IMPROVING URBAN LIVELIHOODS: EPWORTH SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS BENCHMARK STUDY

BY

NOAH SIGAUKE

OCTOBER 2002

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The availability of basic information on urban livelihoods and poverty is critical for putting in place measures that can lead to a positive change in livelihoods and poverty alleviation. Livelihoods comprise the capabilities, assets and activities by which people satisfy their needs and gain a living. On the other hand, poverty refers to a state of deprivation and powerlessness (Chambers, 1994). Livelihoods strategies in the urban centers, not least peri-urban areas of Zimbabwe have since independence been narrowing. The situation was entrenched by the introduction of the Economic Reform Programmes (ERPs) in 1991. The economic reforms ushered in a nexus of socio-economic and political upheavals that tend to have a lasting effect on urban poverty. For example, the ERPs led to the closure of many companies resulting in massive retrenchment of workers. Similarly, the economic crisis witnessed in Zimbabwe since 2000 when farm invasions by the ruling party supporters and farm designations by the government started, have also contributed to a downturn of the Zimbabwean economy. As a result of these factors, many people in urban Zimbabwe are living in poverty due to limited livelihood opportunities. Urban poverty is evidenced by the lack of ability to meet proper basic needs such as shelter, safe and clean drinking water, sanitation and food. The majority of the urban poor are experiencing problems in running their own reliable income generating activities. Urban agriculture has also emerged as a source of food and income for many poor families. Poverty in the urban centres of Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular is now a cause of concern for governments, NGOs such as ITDG Southern Africa and those who are living in poverty. By undertaking the project entitled Improving Urban Livelihoods and through the Epworth Sustainable Livelihoods Benchmark Study, ITDG Southern Africa hope to work together with the local authorities and the residents of areas such as Epworth to come up with projects and activities that are aimed at improving the latters livelihoods. The data contained in this report was collected from four areas of Epworth, namely Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks. The main data collection method used was the participatory research approach (PRA) or the participatory urban appraisals (PUAs), which allowed the residents of the area to say in detail what their livelihood situations are and the form of assistance they would like from government and NGOs. The PRAs or PUAs also presented an opportunity for the consultants to observe the living conditions of people living in the four wards studied. The PUA data collection method was complemented by the administration of a questionnaire to 300 residents of the four areas. This fusion of qualitative and quantitative methodologies helped in unraveling the diverse intervention measures that should be implemented in Epworth. If the livelihoods of people in places such as Epworth are to change there should be a holistic intervention approach to diverse but related areas such as shelter, provision of water, environmental conservation, urban agriculture, construction of roads, institution building and informal sector development. Thus, this benchmark study helped in coming up with recommendations that can be used for improving and fostering sustainable livelihoods in Epworth.

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................. 1 1.1. INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 2 1.2. THE MAJOR OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY WAS:.................................................................. 2 1.3. THE SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES WERE TO: ............................................................................. 2 1.4. TERMS AND TERMINOLOGY ........................................................................................... 3 1.4.1. Poverty ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.4.2. Sustainable livelihoods ............................................................................................. 3 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................ 3 2.1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT OF URBAN POVERTY IN ZIMBABWE ................................. 3 2.2. SHELTER AND INSTITUTIONAL PARTICIPATION .............................................................. 4 2.3. INFRASTRUCTURE AND OTHER SOCIAL SERVICES.......................................................... 6 2.4. URBAN AGRICULTURE .................................................................................................. 7 2.5. THE LIVELIHOOD SITUATION OF WOMEN, THE AGED AND THE YOUTHS....................... 8 2.6. Women......................................................................................................................... 8 2.7. The aged..................................................................................................................... 10 2.8. Youths ........................................................................................................................ 11 2.9. PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS ...................................................... 11 3. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................... 13 3.1. DESIGN........................................................................................................................ 13 3.1.1. QUALITATIVE METHODS .......................................................................................... 13 3.1.2. QUESTIONNAIRE....................................................................................................... 15 3.2. SAMPLING ................................................................................................................... 15 3.3. DATA ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................... 16 4. FINDINGS ................................................................................................................... 17 Post Independence Epworth .......................................................................................... 17 4.1. VULNERABILITY CONTEXT.......................................................................................... 18 4.1.1. Economic and financial trends................................................................................ 19 4.1.2. Demographic trends ................................................................................................ 19 4.1.3 Health and Well-being ............................................................................................. 20 4.1.4. Natural Hazards ...................................................................................................... 21 4.1.5. Social Conflict and Insecurity................................................................................. 21 4.1.6. Seasonality .............................................................................................................. 22 5. ASSET PROFILE ....................................................................................................... 23 5.1. PHYSICAL CAPITAL............................................................................................ 31 5.1.1.Housing.....31 5.1.2 Water....................................................................................................................... 35 5.1.3 Toilets ...................................................................................................................... 40 5.1.4 Energy ..................................................................................................................... 44 5.1.6 Roads....................................................................................................................... 45 6.1 NATURAL CAPITAL.............................................................................................. 46

6.1.1. Forests:................................................................................................................... 38 6.1.2. Rivers ..................................................................................................................... 38 6.1.4. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 38 6.2. HUMAN CAPITAL ................................................................................................... 39 6.2.1. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 39 6.3. SOCIAL CAPITAL.................................................................................................... 40 6.4. SOCIAL CAPITAL: DOMBORAMWARI ............................................................... 40 6.4.1. Burial Societies ...................................................................................................... 40 6.4.2. Issues ...................................................................................................................... 40 6.4.3. Plan International ................................................................................................. 40 6.4.4. Cooperatives .......................................................................................................... 41 6.4.5. Consultative Committee ....................................................................................... 41 6.4.6. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 41 6.4.7. Epworth Local Board ........................................................................................... 41 6.4.8 Religious Groups/Churches .................................................................................. 41 6.4.9. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 42 6.5. SOCIAL CAPITAL: CHIZUNGU............................................................................... 1 6.5.1. Burial Societies ........................................................................................................ 1 6.5.2. Issues ........................................................................................................................ 1 6.5.3. Plan International ................................................................................................... 1 6.5.4. Orphanage Care...................................................................................................... 1 6.5.5. Water and Sanitation.............................................................................................. 1 6.5.6. Construction ............................................................................................................ 1 6.5.7. Market Place............................................................................................................ 1 6.5.8. Issues: ....................................................................................................................... 1 6.5.9. Mashambanzou Trust............................................................................................. 2 6.5.10. Home-based Care.................................................................................................. 2 6.5.11. HIV/Aids awareness.............................................................................................. 2 6.5.12. Cooperatives .......................................................................................................... 2 6.5.13. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 2 6.5.14. Hama Maoko Cooperative ................................................................................... 2 6.5.15. Kubatana Cooperative.......................................................................................... 3 6.5.16. Epworth Local Board ........................................................................................... 3 6.5.17. Consultative Committee ....................................................................................... 3 6.5.18. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 4 6.5.19. Religious Groups/Churches ................................................................................. 4 6.5.20. Issues: ..................................................................................................................... 4 6.6. SOCIAL CAPITAL: GADA ........................................................................................ 4 6.6.1. Burial Societies ........................................................................................................ 4 6.6.2. Issues ........................................................................................................................ 4 6.6.3. Plan International ................................................................................................... 4 6.6.4. Cooperatives ............................................................................................................ 5 6.6.5. Issues: ....................................................................................................................... 5 6.6.6. Consultative Committee ......................................................................................... 5 6.6.7. Issues: ....................................................................................................................... 5 6.6.8. Epworth Local Board ............................................................................................. 6

6.6.9. Religious Groups/Churches ................................................................................... 6 6.7. SOCIAL CAPITAL: BALANCING ROCKS .............................................................. 6 6.7.1. Burial Societies ........................................................................................................ 6 6.7.2. Issues: ....................................................................................................................... 6 6.7.3. NGOs and Cooperatives ......................................................................................... 6 6.7.4. Consultative Committee ......................................................................................... 6 6.7.5. Issues: ....................................................................................................................... 6 6.7.6. Epworth Local Board ............................................................................................. 7 6.7.7. Religious Groups/Churches ................................................................................... 7 8. POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES........................................................ 10 8.1. Land Use Policy and Tenure................................................................................... 10 8.2. Building by-laws and Planning Regulations.......................................................... 10 8.3. Urban agriculture .................................................................................................... 11 8.4. Environment............................................................................................................. 11 8.6. Entrepreneurial Development ................................................................................ 12 8.7. Taxation .................................................................................................................... 12 8.8. LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES ............................................................................................ 15 8.8.1. Labour market......................................................................................................... 15 9. GENDER ANALYSIS ................................................................................................ 71 9.1. Access to and Control over Resources....................................................................... 20 9.2 Land ........................................................................................................................... 71 9.3 Equipment ................................................................................................................. 72 9.4 Labour and Household Income ............................................................................... 72 9.5 Livestock .................................................................................................................... 72 9.6 Education/Training................................................................................................... 73 9.7 Lodgings..................................................................................................................... 73 9.8 Outside Assistance .................................................................................................... 74 9.9 Daily Activity Profiles............................................................................................... 74 9.10 Seasonality Profiles ................................................................................................. 75 10 RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................................................... 77 10.1.1 Opportunities and Needs..................................................................................... 77 10.1.2 Housing...77 10.1.3 Water and Sanitation...77 10.1.4 Energy.78 10.1.5 Environmental Conservation..78 10.1.6 Urban Agriculture...78 10.1.7 Informal Sector Development (Projects)....78 10.1.8 Institutional Building..79 10.2 RANKING OF PRIORITIES79 11 REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 81 APPENDIX I: DRAFT DATA COLLECTION GUIDE ............................................ 30 APPENDIX II: PUA TOOLS AND SLF INFORMATION NEEDS ......................... 33

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AIDS - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ELB - Epworth Local Board ESAP - Economic Structural Adjustment Programme ERP - Economic Reform Programme FGDs - Focus Group Discussions GoZ - Government of Zimbabwe HIV - Human Immune-deficiency Virus IMF - International Monetary Fund ITDG - Intermediate Technology Development Group KI - Key Informants NANGO - National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations NGOs - Non-Governmental Organizations NRB - Natural Resources Board PRA - Participatory Research Approach PUA - Participatory Urban Appraisal S.I. - Statutory Instrument SLF - Sustainable Livelihoods Framework SMEs - Small to Medium Scale Enterprises SSB - Stabilized Soil Blocks UNDP - United Nations Development Programme ZAOGA - Zimbabwe Assemblies of God

LIST OF FIGURES
1. GRAIN MARKETING BOARD28 2. TYPE OF BRICKS USED.....33 3. ROUND HUT34 4. HOUSING STRUCTURE..36 5. COMMUNITY WATER SUFFICIENCY.38 6. QUALITY OF COMMUNITY WATER...38 7. TAPPED WATER SOURCE.39 8. WATER POINT.40 9. UNPROTECTED WELL...41 10 TYPE OF TOILETS..42 11. PRIVATE LATRINE...43 12 PRIVATE LATRINE FROM OUTSIDE..44 13 ENERGY SOURCES FOR COOKING45 14 SOURCES OF INFORMATION..48 15 INFORMAL SECTOR PARTICIPATION...68 16 FINANCIAL ISSUES...69

LIST OF TABLES
1. HOUSING CONDITIONS32 2. SOURCES OF WATER37 3. TOILETS42 4. REFUSE DISPOSAL.44 5. SOURCES OF ENERGY...45 6. ROADS...46 7.PRIORITY RANKING...80

LIST OF BOXES
1. CHILDLESS WIDOW ORDERED TO LEAVE HOME..17 2.INITIATIVES FOR WOMENS PARTICIPATION IN SHELTER..17 3. THE POSITION OF ELB...65 4. LIVELIHOOD ACTIVITIES.69

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to first and foremost thank most deeply the following Research Assistants Oscar Matsungo, Krasposy Kujinga and Lovemore Marisa who were instrumental in the whole process of the study. Secondly I would like to express deep gratitude to the parents and youths of Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks areas, community leaders, and the Epworth Local Board particularly Rachel Chakazamba, the Executive Secretary, who in various ways enabled me to carry out and complete the study. The above people welcomed, answered questions, sacrificing their precious time to participate in the focus group discussions. A fitting tribute would be a change in their lives, addressing the various issues that were raised.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Noah Sigauke is the Social Scientist under Practical Action Southern Africas Improving Access to Infrastructure Services Programme. The programme aims to improve the access of poor women and men to locally-managed services, by developing and disseminating: Technology that improves access to locally-managed water and sanitation. Housing technologies and access to adequate shelter and secure tenure. Modern, clean sustainable energy services (including cooking technologies) Technologies for solid waste management. Information on improving the access of poor people to the resources, support and infrastructure they need to build their livelihoods.

He can be contacted on; noahs@practicalaction.org.zw

1.1. INTRODUCTION
In most cities of the developing world, up to one half of the urban population live in informal settlements, Toepfer, (1996). A growing number of poor urban people live in poor quality housing with inadequate provision of water, sanitation and drainage, with minimal or no social services or basic infrastructure. As a result, their lives and wellbeing are under continuous threat. The living conditions of the urban poor are further constrained by the absence of reliable income generation sources. Uneven development between the rural and urban centres in favour of the latter and the effects of droughts, dwindling agricultural land fertility and sizes per household, amongst other reasons, have resulted in a massive rural urban drift. Harrison (1993) likened this type of migration to voting with ones feet. It is a form of protest against inequality. However, all has not been well in towns too. Since the adoption of ESAP, the economy experienced a decline in economic growth, massive retrenchments, rise in urban poverty (1990/91, 12%; 1995, 39%) and consequently a decline in the living standards and this meant that the urban poor were unable to meet their day-to-day basic needs. These needs included rentals, health care, food, fuel etc. This scenario saw many poor people drifting to the periphery of urban centres to start a new life in an informal settlement where a laissez-faire type of living was adopted. Thus, concern with the sprawling of peri-urban informal settlements and the ever-increasing urban poverty has emerged on a number of fronts: 1 Reports that the majority of the urban poor live in unhealthy and life threatening homes and neighbourhoods, lacking essential services such as safe water and sanitation and denied opportunities to provide for themselves and their families. That in such places people lack farmland on which to grow their own food, loose social networks, and rely more than ever on cash for their survival. Urban poverty often involves the denial of rights to shelter, exploitation by private landlords, the daily risk of eviction and a lack of voice and choice to change things for the better. Women, who constitute about two thirds of the urban poor people, are particularly deprived because their access and control rights to work, credit, land, and basic assets for survival are more limited than mens.

2 3

1.2. The major objective of the study was:

To assess and analyze the current livelihood situation of Epworth community paying attention to their, vulnerability context, livelihood assets, transforming structures and processes, livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes thus providing information for the alleviation of urban poverty thereby enhancing a sustainable livelihood.
1.3. The specific objectives were to:

1. To identify the existing community resources and opportunities for improving physical, social, human and financial assets; 2. To determine access to and control of physical, social, human and financial assets; 3. To determine the gender dimensions of access and control of physical, social and financial resources;

4. To determine the strategies the community have in place in responding to needs and problems, 5. To determine the institutional linkages and networks for the community and partners involved in the implementation of programmes related to the improvement of physical, social, human and financial assets; 6. To identify existing strengths and constraints in relation to access and control to physical, social, human and financial assets and make recommendations on how they could be addressed and 7. Based on the study results, identify training needs for the community, local board and policy makers. 1.4. Terms and terminology 1.4.1. Poverty There is general agreement among social scientists that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon with complex linkages. Muzaale (1986) described poverty as more than just a physiological phenomenon denoting a lack of basic necessities like food, health, shelter and clothing. Poverty is also a state of deprivation and powerlessness, where the poor are exploited and denied participation in decision-making in matters that intimately affect them. The World Summit for Social Development in 1995 summed up and provided a comprehensive definition that embraces all the dimensions of human life: Poverty has various manifestations including lack of income and productive resources sufficient to ensure sustainable livelihoods, hunger and malnutrition, ill-health, limited or lack of access to education and other basic services, increased morbidity and mortality from illness, homelessness and inadequate housing, unsafe environments and social discrimination and exclusion. It is also characterized by lack of participation in decision-making and civil, social, and cultural life. 1.4.2. Sustainable livelihoods Livelihoods are said to comprise the capabilities, assets and activities by which people satisfy their needs or gain a living. A livelihood is thus said to be sustainable when it can maintain and/or enhance these capabilities and promote the accumulating of assets (DFID, 1999).

2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Background and context of urban poverty in Zimbabwe At independence in 1980, the Government of Zimbabwe inherited an uneven pattern of development with the urban centres being endowed with virtually all the necessary social services, housing, safe water and sanitation, health care, education and the opportunities for securing employment. In contrast, the rural areas were not well developed in terms of basic infrastructure and services like the urban areas. The resultant effect was an upsurge in rural urban migration in search of opportunities thus swelling the population of the major cities. With an annual growth rate of 3.14%, the population of the country was

estimated to be around 14 million by 2002, and about 33% of the population were living in urban areas while two-thirds of these resided in Harare and Bulawayo, (CSO, 1992). This resulted in an acute shortage of housing, put pressure on the available urban infrastructure and strained social services. The under-performing economy, rapid population growth and the subsequent demand for capital projects [roads and bridges, dams, communication networks etc] and social services forced the Government to abandon its socialist ideology and adopt economic reform measures. ESAP, adopted at the end of 1991 was aimed at stimulating investment, both foreign and domestic, to enable the economy to achieve higher levels of growth, (GoZ, 1991). In exchange for structural adjustment loans, the country was expected to carry out the reforms consistent with the Breton Woods institutional demands through the years. Some of the conditions required the government to: Decontrol prices Devalue currency Remove subsidies Liberalization of the labour market Reduction of public expenditure (Chakaodza, 1993) As a result of these and many other set conditions the country witnessed, company closures, retrenchments and a rise in the price of basic commodities. This meant that those who had been laid off employment and the low-income earners could not keep pace with the rising inflation levels hence had no other option except to move to the informal settlements on the outskirts of the cities thus swelling the population of informal settlements Epworth being one. 2.2. Shelter and institutional participation Shelter is a basic need, which is of paramount importance for peoples livelihoods. However, the provision of shelter is a complex process involving issues not only of providing physical shelter in adequate quantities to house the population, but also providing appropriate types, largely within an increasing urban population. Appropriate shelter is that which is capable of meeting the diverse physical, social and even psychological needs of households, bearing in mind that these needs change over time as the individual households composition changes, (Madaka, 1995:151). Similarly, the GoZ (1996: 6) aptly notes that the housing delivery system is made up of complex inter relationships between land delivery and the land development system, the construction industry, housing, finance, government involvement through taxes, subsidies and the regulatory system. The story of shelter/housing situation of Epworth will not be complete and well understood without a look at what was happening in Harare. At independence and the subsequent years, the rapid growth of Harares population created problems, especially in the area of housing. The provision of housing in the city was the responsibility of the local authority and the early post-independence achievements were rooted in preindependence programs. This saw the coming into existence of Glen View housing scheme and the aided self-help schemes of Warren Park D, Dzivarasekwa, Hatcliffe and Kuwadzana. Regardless of these efforts Harares population growth exceeded the supply

of housing for the low-income sector and the citys housing waiting list exceeded 50 000 by 1980 and this continued to swell (Vakil, 1994). In urban areas, low cost housing has traditionally been the preserve of the public sector. Building societies refrained from providing mortgage finance directly to low-income applicants because of the high cost of administering adequate mortgage security in the form of title deeds and the lower standards of construction permitted in high-density suburbs. With their meagre financial resources, low-income households found it difficult to secure land for constructing houses or purchasing of existing houses. In addition, the majority of the poor do not qualify for loan finance because they lack collateral security. Thus, the poor were marginalized from the post independence donor funded and subsidized housing projects However, the mid 1980s saw a growing interest by the financial sector to finance the provision of housing for the low-income bracket of the urban community to augment the government and municipal efforts by advancing bulk loans for high-density development, (GoZ, 1996). However, the gains of this development were not far reaching since the introduction of ESAP meant that the majority of those retrenched could not keep abreast with mortgage payments and hence lost their houses. The unprecedented growth of urban population and the resultant dispossessions saw the mushrooming of informal settlements on the periphery of the city, one of which was Epworth. There are varying housing models and structures in Epworth ranging from two roomed to nine roomed ones. While a good number are built of cement blocks and thatched with asbestos or iron sheets, there are many more built of poles, dagga, sunburnt earth bricks, wooden planks, grass and or plastics, (ITDG, 2001). The majority of houses particularly those found in Domboramwari are in a dilapidated state. It is a common practice that on a piece of residential stand there are at least two or more shacks to accommodate lodgers irrespective of the stand size. The Epworth Local Board (ELB) has however of late, started to adopt certain minimum level standards to at least normalize the structures and standards. In line with the socialist thinking, the government at national level, promoted the formation of co-operatives. However, there was bias towards rural agricultural and fishing co-operatives at the expense of urban groupings. Interesting measures that have been taken by some urban dwellers have been the creation of housing cooperatives In Harare, Kugarika Kushinga Housing Co-operative of Mabvuku pioneered in the area of co-operative housing provision. It should be noted that such co-operatives encountered a lot of problems to do with registration, political interference etc. As of today this cooperative has delivered houses for the low-income people of Mabvuku and Tafara in excess of 1500. An interesting observation that is cropping up in urban development is the intervention measures coming from NGOs. In Zimbabwe, NGOs were predominantly biased towards sponsoring rural projects. In recent years, attention has shifted towards urban areas. Through encouragement from government, NGOs are increasingly playing an important

role in shelter and urban development projects. NGOs like ITDG Southern Africa, Plan International, and Housing People of Zimbabwe are making strides in facilitating peoples livelihoods within the urban environment. For example, ITDG Southern Africa has been assisting Cone Textiles Housing Cooperative to build improved and cheap housing units in Chitungwiza under its Integrated Urban Development Project. People were also trained in technical and business skills to promote income-generating activities like concrete block making, peanut butter making and welding. The training project involved a comprehensive number of men and women in groups. 2.3. Infrastructure and other Social Services Infrastructure connections, access to and consumption of potable water are the three indicators to determine the extent to which the government policies have been successful. A good infrastructure base i.e. electricity, water and sewerage encourages economic growth but it has to be low cost, effective, efficient, user responsive and accessible to those who require it (GoZ, 1996:4). Urban areas are better serviced with all types of infrastructure than rural areas. However, rapid urbanization has resulted in decreased accessibility, congestion, inadequate infrastructure facilities and the consequent environmental problems. Thus, while Harare and Bulawayo have high levels of water supply and sanitation, areas like Epworth are still lagging behind (GoZ, 1996:5). Local authorities are increasingly facing diminishing financial resources to plough into infrastructure development, hence the continued shortage of housing and the deteriorating urban environments. Finance for shelter and urban development is raised from the following main sources: Loans from central government appropriated from the annual budget; Loans from private sector financial institutions, including building societies who are the principal sources of funds, insurance companies, and pension funds; Locally generated revenues from taxes, the sale of water, licenses and revenue generating projects operated by local authorities; Recently from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community-based Organizations (CBOs) and Cooperatives; Loans from donor agencies such as the World Bank and USAID. Besides a seemingly high number of actors in shelter provision and urban development, funding is still low. The GoZ (1996: 10) notes that the provision of finance and urban development has been constrained by the absence of an attractive investment climate, negative regulatory environment, a narrow housing finance base and poor savings by individuals due to low disposable incomes. Turning to health matters, acute respiratory infections (ARI), diarrhoea, skin diseases, sexually transmitted infections (STI), and tuberculosis (TB) are the most prevalent health problems in Epworth. However, there is only a single health facility within Epworth, which is criticized for not being centrally located and hence inaccessible to the majority of the people. The central government partly finances the operations of the institution and

lately Plan International funded the construction of a maternity wing at the hospital, (ITDG, 2001). Children under 5 are given free treatment with adults paying a nominal fee. Besides funding infrastructure development, Plan International is involved in health awareness campaigns and the provision of food supplements. Education is a basic right and its provision to the community is of paramount importance. Education encompasses life skills training meant to enhance a peoples livelihood. While the central government is responsible for the provision of education by providing grants and financing the building of schools, there are two schools still being administered by the Church and the rest by the local Board in conjunction with the Government of Zimbabwe. Plan International also financed the construction of school blocks. There is no vocational or a skills training centre within the community. 2.4. Urban Agriculture Peri-urban informal settlements are a step towards solutions of problems the inhabitants face in urban areas and are not problems per se, (Turner, 1969). Informal settlements such as those found in Epworth can act as bootstraps by which families of low and insecure income can pull themselves up (ITDG, 2001). Low-income earners can build low cost houses from poles, mud and thatch and use fuel wood from forests in the neighbourhood. They are then forced to make a living in the manner they know well such as harvesting natural resources they can sell and or cultivate the land. The urban farmers are forced to cultivate on any available land such as steep hill slopes and vlei. These marginal and sensitive areas when used for cultivation require that measures be taken to protect them. The main environmental and land management problems relating to human settlements in Zimbabwe relate to: Accelerated soil erosion and land degradation, resulting in the siltation of rivers and dams; Severe deforestation; Pollution (air, water and land); Unplanned gold panning along water courses; Cultivation of unsustainable areas as stream banks and steep slopes; Problems of the protection of wildlife; Lack of effective land use planning; and Access to environmental infrastructure. Recent studies have shown that if properly done and managed well, urban agriculture may lead to food self sufficiency and thus improved livelihoods of the poor. The economic hardships brought about by the introduction of ESAP saw many people losing their jobs while the cost of living shot up with a negative impact on women and youth. This prompted many people to till whatever open space was at their disposal and Epworth is no exception. Urban agriculture meant that those who had been made redundant could eke a living out of tilling the land. While the land that lay furrow in Epworth was taken up for housing purposes, the little that remained was put under cultivation. Of late programs to improve the state of urban agriculture as a means of improving food security

have been instituted with the Municipal Development Program (MDP) spearheading the activities. 2.5. The Livelihood Situation of Women, the Aged and the Youths The urban poor are mainly concentrated among the unemployed and those in relatively low-paying jobs, female-headed households, the elderly, the disabled person-headed households, children (especially those on the street), child-headed households, and those households with one source of income, (Dhemba, 1999:11). In order to cushion the poor against the effects of ESAP, the government put in place a number of measures and programs, the Social Assistance Scheme, the Social Dimensions Fund (SDF) and the now defunct Poverty Alleviation and Action Programs (PAAP) and child supplementary feeding schemes. However these programs had a rural bias to the exclusion of the urban poor particularly at a time urban poverty is rising. 2.6. Women Unequal access to productive resources land, capital, skills is a major cause of poverty, and poor women have even less access than poor men, (Harrison, 1993). However, the means of production is not just limited to the above three but also includes the material, financial, human, technological and technical resources needed to produce goods and services. While Harrison looked at access, a more critical dimension is the control of the resources. The majority of Zimbabwean women have no control over the fundamental resources and the bulk of these are the poor rural and peri-urban women. Of the Third World total of 795 million illiterates in 1980, no less than 480 million (60%) were women, (Harrison, 1993). In Zimbabwe the proportion of adult females who are illiterate outweigh the male. With the effects of the now abandoned ESAP still being felt and compounded by the effects of HIV/AIDS, the numbers of female illiterates is rising faster than male. The sources of womens educational handicaps lie mainly in the home. Culturally girls are expected to take on the burden of adult work at an earlier age than boys, since their mothers cannot cope without assistance (Harrison, 1993:333). Today many families are withdrawing the girl child from school and give priority to boys due to the incessant hardships and the need for the girl child to look after siblings where parents would have died of AIDS. As in many of the low-income countries, Zimbabwe is experiencing a dramatic rise in the proportion of women household heads, particularly in the urban areas. These women, are among the poorest of the city-dwellers, often employed in the informal sector (as market or street traders), or as domestic workers, Vakil, (1994:8). Like any other lowincome earner, these women face problems in trying to provide decent shelter for themselves and their families. Although women are allowed to apply for accommodation in their own right, women must also bring proof of their divorce or marriage to local authorities. If still married, women are required to submit written statements from their husbands, (Vakil 1994). In addition, women have suffered from legal obstacles of access to credit in their own right, and land tenure insecurity. There are many cases whereby widows have been forcibly removed from their homes by husbands relatives due to

inheritance problems. Other cases reported in newspapers show husbands selling their homes without consulting their wives. See story below.
Box 1 Childless widow ordered to leave home A few weeks after the death of her husband early this year, Mrs. Viyazhero, was allegedly battered by her stepson and ordered to leave her Chitungwiza home because she has no children. She said when she refused to leave, her stepson demanded she should sleep with him as he intended to inherit everything his father left although her late husband had left a written will declaring her the sole beneficiary; she failed to substantiate her case at the courts as she has no original copy of the will. On several occasions my stepson drunkenly broke into my bedroom and vomited on my bed to frustrate me and force me to leave, she said.
Source: The Herald 18 July 2002 (page 7)

Measures that have been taken to have more participation of women in shelter and afford them a secure tenure are depicted in the following Box. Box 2: Initiatives for Womens Participation in Shelter The GoZ has made efforts to increase the participation of women by enacting laws bent on improving equal rights between men and women. Legislation to address issues of equality of access to public housing e.g. the Legal Age of Majority Act and the Land Tenure Act has been enacted. The Government has also stepped up efforts to positively encourage the employment of women in construction decision making, so that the female perspective may be included e.g. Deputy Director of Construction. There has been a steady increase of participation of womens groups in the formulation of housing policy. For example policy formulation on housing is developed by the Zimbabwe consultancy committee for Housing which includes National Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (NANGO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Zimbabwes Womens Bureau and Housing People of Zimbabwe. There is also an active involvement of womens groups on the subcommittee for the homeless. Local authorities have to a certain extent wavered their policies towards womens participation in shelter. This has helped to complement the aforementioned government efforts in regard to improving the provision of shelter to women. Local authorities have allowed women headed households to apply for accommodation as individuals. Previously only conventional families and males were allowed to apply. In addition, where the council still has control/interest in a stand i.e. rented semi-completed development, the sale or transfer of property must be fully endorsed by the spouse. Even

when a stand/house is allocated both partners have to sign the deeds, and allocation is made on the basis of joint ownership. The promotion of low-income housing also tends to favour low-income earners like women. The solution to the problem of low-income housing finance for the majority of the urban poor lies not with the Government or the conventional lending facilities (Madaka 1995:168). These cannot and do not resolve the problem of low-income housing. Some approaches have failed to take into consideration the lifestyles, values and savings of the poor, nor provide realistic and efficient attempts to meet the enormous challenge of low-income housing finance. In Zimbabwe, housing finance system has failed to cope with the problem of low-income housing. Mafico (1991) suggests that there is a need for complementing traditional methods and local resources to bear on the shelter problem of the urban poor. Local authorities should also be allowed a free hand in negotiating and borrowing from both internal and external resources (Madaka 1995). NGOs which have played a commendable role in the provision of social infrastructure, such as schools, clinics, boreholes and crches, should also step up efforts towards shelter provision. 2.7. The aged It was noted during the 1992 census that there are half a million aged people and most need care. About 5% of Zimbabwes population was over 60 years. Many elderly people are without formal accommodation mainly because of: a) The diminishing purchasing power of pension amounts. The value of the pension was observed to be far below the cost of living that many old people simply could not afford the high rent of private institutions, or deposit and payments for a housing scheme. The prevailing socio-economic environment that is dominated by high inflation (over 100% for most of 2002), the devaluation of the Zimbabwean dollar and foreign currency shortages have made housing unaffordable even to those who are not aged. The Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (2002.07.25) reported that pensioners have fallen prey to bogus real estate agents purporting to be selling houses. This goes to illustrate how critical the housing problem is to the elderly. b) Rising rents on accommodation. Many of those who have been fortunate enough to secure rented accommodation throughout their life find that they are no longer able to keep up with their rental payments because the commercial value of property has risen so much. The bulk of shelter for the elderly is with their families or with social institutions. Welfare organizations and churches have provided residency to some elders without accommodation and facing destitution. The majority of the elderly in institutions are former immigrants from neighbouring countries who have lost contact with their roots. The housing needs of the elderly have been accepted in principle and have thus gone much further in terms of policy and strategic formulation. Through the National Council for the Care of the Aged the GoZ appoints a chairperson for this representative council, which allocates funds to groups who wish to build institutional care. Representatives are

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sent from each of the nursing homes and funds are distributed to groups who can provide at least 25% of the building costs. This could include voluntary labour or building materials. Funds are released from the State lottery and other sources. Help Age Zimbabwe has been mobilizing older people into putting their skills together to save for construction costs. 2.8. Youths Approximately 2000 children aged 0-18 years live on the streets or in squatter settlements. The majority of those living in squatter settlements either stays with both parents and one parent, or has migrated from neighbouring countries or from the rural areas. Some of the children have disabled parents who depend on their children to beg for their survival but the largest number have been orphaned, abused or simply neglected (GoZ 1996: 37). These children are unable to support themselves adequately and are thus an extremely vulnerable group in society. Without formal education, and the safety of a formal home, these children are frequently exploited, abused, addicted to solvents and are trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty. The youth are unlikely to apply for public housing, as they are not employed and hence have not enough income to even afford a rented room. Furthermore, the applicant must be at least 18 before he/she can actually apply for housing. The desperate needs of children have been recognized by welfare organizations and the Department of Welfare. However, the Government has not made much progress in the provision of accommodation for street children and the orphaned children. Plan International has been involved in supporting under-privileged children in Epworth by paying for their school fees, provision of school uniforms, food supplements. Nonetheless a great number of youths are out of school due to failure to raise the necessary fees, notably those who have been orphaned because of HIV/AIDS. No programs are in place to empower the youths through the formation of income generating projects, skills training and or those related to shelter provision. 2.9. Participation and Sustainable Livelihoods There has been growing interest among donor agencies concerned with poverty alleviation and grassroots initiatives about the role of beneficiary participation in development. In certain instances, governments and the private sector without any consultation with the intended beneficiaries often formulate rural projects. This trend of formulating ad hoc policies inconsistent with community needs has prompted the emergence of development approaches that focus on alleviating the poverty of target groups. However, a shift of attention from state-led development initiatives to community approaches mainly rests on the need to promote popular participation and empowerment. Popular participation entails the involvement of the intended beneficiaries in decision-making, planning, implementation and evaluation of rural projects (Makumbe 1996, 7; Powell 1988, 161). The main assumption is that through their participation in rural projects and activities, communities gain more control over

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their living conditions. This is related to the empowerment of people because selfreliance and the control of the development process are essential attributes of empowerment (Friedmann, 1992; Bratton 1990). Friedmann (1992, 33) pointed out that empowerment has three key features, namely political, social and psychological power. He notes that political power is not only the power to vote, but is as well the power of voice and of collective action. On the other hand, social power is concerned with access to certain bases of household production such as information, knowledge and skills participation in social organisations, and financial resources. He went further to note that psychological power is an individual sense of potency. There is a positive relationship between social, political and psychological power. Psychological empowerment is often a result of successful action in the social or political domains (Friedmann 1992, 33). The participation of peasants in development projects has been widely viewed as a prerequisite for development (World Bank, 1996: 3; Makumbe 1996, 6). However, variations exist in the way participation is interpreted and applied. Makumbe (1996, 6) notes that the United Nations argues that there are basically three ways of viewing popular participation in development, namely mass sharing of the benefits of development, mass contribution to the development effort; and (mass) decision making in development. It can be noted that the three views are related since they call for a need for peoples participation in the development process, that is, in the design, implementation, evaluation of projects and related economic benefits (Powell, 1988: 161). There is a link between popular participation and empowerment. Adedeji (cited by Makumbe 1996, 2) asserts that the democratization of the development process by which we mean the empowerment of the people, their involvement in decision-making, in implementation and monitoring processes is a prerequisite for socio-economic recovery and transformation. Rowlands (1996: 54) notes that empowerment must be about bringing people who are outside the decision-making process into it. Similarly, Jolly (1997: 30) argues that the starting point of reducing poverty is when women and men are empowered, that is, by ensuring their participation in the decisions that affect their lives and by enabling them to build their strengths and assets. Providing women with projects that may improve their socio-economic status and help them to increase household income and resources can facilitate this. While there is no documented evidence of participation and sustainable development in Epworth, the one close to mind is the participation of women in shelter development in Mabvuku/Tafara and Mabelreign. Kugarika Kushinga and the Tashinga housing cooperatives have a female population exceeding 55% of the combined total membership and have to date delivered houses in excess of 2000 houses and the majority being owned by women. Women participated at all levels of the organizations, as members and as office bearers too, (Vakil, 1994).

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3. METHODOLOGY
Development work has evolved and so are methods and tools of assessing needs. The study therefore adopted a participatory approach to investigation and precisely participatory urban appraisal (PUA) while the sustainable livelihoods framework [SLF] guides the analysis. DFID (1999) notes that the SLF seeks to gain an accurate and realistic understanding of peoples strengths (assets or capital endowments) and how they endeavour to convert these into positive livelihood outcomes. However, keeping in mind the qualitative strength of the PUA approach, this study also incorporated a questionnaire as a means of fostering statistical trends noted in Epworth. Thus, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies in finding out peoples livelihood conditions and strategies enriched the study. The study took a holistic insight on how asset linkages affect peoples efforts to improve their living conditions. Livelihood analysis assesses the resilience of household strategies in the face of shocks and stresses, and assists in identifying vulnerable areas or groups. Thus, the study of Epworth was ingrained in finding out existing and emerging trends in peoples livelihoods, not least in access to shelter, water and sanitation and other resources that sustain livelihoods. 3.1. Design 3.1.1. Qualitative Methods A multi-method approach to information gathering was adopted. This consisted of transect walks, focus group discussions (FGDs) with both adults and youths, in-depth key informant (KI) interviews, mapping, ranking, timelines, trends, and change analysis, daily and activity profiles, seasonal calendars, and semi-structured interviewing, chapatti or Venn diagramming, and gender analysis. Transect involved a series of strolls which took the PUA team and some members of the community, notably key informants, through the community and allowed them to appreciate the range of features, resources and conditions across the area. This enabled the team to familiarize with the diversity of eco-systems, land use patterns, socioeconomic indicators, income generating projects, housing patterns, water and sanitation patterns, etc in the settlement and then identification of problems and opportunities associated with them. FGDs were used to gain a more comprehensive picture of traditional/current beliefs, values, knowledge, perceptions, opinions and practices in relation to the provision of shelter. The tool provided an opportunity to observe group non-verbal cues as well as group dynamics at play. The groups were used to generate maps (social, resource, etc) upon which discussions would emanate. In-depth KI interviews offered an occasion to discuss sensitive issues that were problematic to bring up in a group setting, thus enabled the team to gather information about the knowledge and behaviours of others in the community. Information relating to, say the number of households surviving on illegal activities (brewing of illicit alcohol, thieving, prostitution, etc) is not information one can safely extract from group discussions. Quite often individuals do not reveal their

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economic status for fears of being left out in situations were NGOs are to provide assistance and hence KI became quite handy. Key informants garner respect because of, their being either the eldest in the community, knowledgeable about certain events, or holding a position and thus were able to provide insights on access to, and control (security of tenure) of resources. Semi-structured interviews were employed in order to draw information land ownership rights and power relations, state of housing and land communities. Information on livelihood strategies was also collected structured interviews. The interviews complemented the information groups. on the existing markets in the through semigathered from

Mapping involved participants drawing maps of their communities highlighting locally identified resources, landmarks, households and key characteristics using locally available materials. Resources maps drawn showed features such as land, water sources, trees, arable land, shops, residential areas; housing structures and type of material used, and important sites. Social maps identified and located key institutions in the settlements and the social relations to which people have access. The maps also depicted households and the one who heads each one by gender, the households socio-economic status or level of literacy, malnutrition etc. Livelihood mapping was employed to depict the communities sources of livelihood in diagrams and shows how important each source is. The information included the peoples sources of income, patterns of expenditure and access to land etc. Ranking was used to gather information on socio-economic status of participants, putting in order of priority problems, needs and opportunities, and highlighted institutions operating within the community and their perceived importance. Wealth ranking was used to elicit information on how the communities define wealth and well-being and to get indicators for assessing the influence of the project on wealth and well-being of the various groups in the community. Ranking was used to categorize various assets according to importance in their livelihood. Institutional ranking was used to show the importance of various institutions in the lives of the participants. Ranking of institutions was complemented by the use of Venn diagrams as they helped to show the most important institutions and the least important. Venn diagrams also helped to identify the relations between the communities and the institutions and clarified which institutions have respect and confidence of women and men and who participates in and is represented by which ones. The Venn diagrams also identified what outside institutions work with which community groups and which groups can effectively engage in sustainable development activities. Timelines, trends and change analysis were used to note important historical markers of the communities. The timelines are chronologies of events, listing major local events with approximate dates; peoples accounts of the past, of how customs, practices and things close to them have changed. This change analysis enabled the team to capture ecological histories, changes in land use (e.g. agriculture and housing patterns), population, migration, fuels uses, health, credit, local power structures and the causes of changes and

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trends and with estimates of relative magnitudes. Knowledge of past events painted a picture of how and why individual and community activities have been shaped. This gave the basis for discussion on mitigation on any shocks and trends. Gender relations in the community where explored using an array of tools. Daily and seasonal profiles were used to explore the day-to-day and seasonal activities performed by men and women of different ages. Seasonal calendars helped to identify seasonal stress such as food shortages, insecurity, conflict, epidemics, unemployment, etc and how they affect livelihood assets. Variations in cash flow and income expenditure by patterns and season were also noted. An analysis of productive activity, reproductive activity, resource and benefit profile, needs, constraints and opportunities by gender was also carried out. To show differential access to and control over livelihood assets and benefits, a gender access and control profile was adopted. 3.1.2. Questionnaire The questionnaire was used to complement and add value to elementary data obtained from PUAs. The questionnaire was formulated by the Consultancy Team and then administered by five graduate research assistants. The research assistants had commendable experience in surveys, of which some had worked on previous projects with ITDG Southern Africa. Thus, their experience and supervision by the Consultancy Team, which had earlier on carried out the PUAs helped to ingrain trustworthy between the researchers and the respondents. The questionnaire was administered with the following sub-themes: livelihood asset profile (skills, housing conditions, water resources, sources of energy), livelihood strategies (urban agriculture and income generating projects), gender relations and information dissemination. 3.2. Sampling During the PUAs, a purposive sample of adults and youths, and key informants was selected from the study site. The community members who were consulted during the data collection process included the elderly (grandparents), childbearing parents, health providers (nurses, village health workers), and administrative leadership. The pool of community beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and practices and their implications is not only the preserve of adults. As a result of HIV/AIDS, the youths have taken up a very active role of being breadwinners hence their views on the impact of the scourge on livelihood assets and benefits, survival strategies they have employed were elicited. Based on these developments new practices have evolved. A total of 300 questionnaires were administered using proportional representation in four wards, Domboramwari (40.3% of respondents), Gada (29.0%), Chizungu (20.7%) and Balancing Rocks (10.0%). Random sampling was used during questionnaire administration. The gender distribution of respondents was as follows: 85 (28%) females and 215 (72%) males. The availability of more male respondents was partly attributed to high unemployment rates that have seen most of them staying at home. In addition, males

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who are traditionally depicted as household heads were expected to answer household questions. However, in cases whereby males were absent due to work commitments or bereavements women were the respondents. This was also the same with women headed households. 3.3. Data analysis Information on sustainable livelihoods was categorised according to our research objectives. However, since some of the objectives were related, the themes emerging from the PUA tools were then analysed and categorised using the asset profile i.e. financial, natural, human, social and physical capital. However, while maintaining focus on the afore-mentioned categories, emphasis was also placed on finding out suggestions on measures that could be adopted to promote housing provisions for the community. The identifying of training needs for the community, local board and policy makers enhanced this. The PRA tool provided important themes that provided a foundation for data analysis. Thus, data from interviews and PUA exercises was analysed and categorised according to the themes emerging on the existing relationship between vulnerability context, livelihood assets and livelihood strategies. Data collected was coded, scored and entered into the computer using the Social Science Statistical Package (SPSS). Frequencies were then run to establish whether data entry was properly done. An analysis of variance was used and it was based on the project themes.

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4. FINDINGS
Basic Background about Epworth Epworth is a Peri-urban settlement that emerged from a mission farm owned by the Methodist Church. It is situated 12km south-east of Harare and its jurisdiction is under a local board. An earlier profile done by ITDG Southern Africa estimated the population of Epworth to be 200 000 (ITDG 2001). This estimate was much higher than that presented by the Central Statistical Office (CSO, 1992) that had put the population at 101 000. It is presumed that an upsurge in informal settlements especially in Gada has increased the population level, thus putting more pressure on the demand for land. The Epworth Local Board is responsible for designing and provision of infrastructure services to the community. Due to the upsurge of informal settlements the Local Board is faced with an inevitable task of service provision and rationalising activities in most wards. The study focuses on four main settlements viz. Domboramwari, Chizungu, Balancing Rocks and Gada. Although Epworth is closer to Harare it is has not meaningfully benefited from its proximity to the capital city such that it has lagged behind terms of the provision of basic social services. In 1996 the Government of Zimbabwe estimated that while Harare achieved high levels of up to 100% access to safe water supply and sanitation, the informal settlement of Epworth only managed 89% of access, (GoZ, 1996:5). However this scenario has since changed with the high influx of people into Epworth such that the access rating has drastically reduced. However, it is important to note that there is inherent differential access to resources within Epworth. While the Local Board recognizes Domboramwari and Chizungu as formal settlements, the same does not apply for Gada and Balancing Rocks. Thus, Gada is deprived of access to infrastructure services notably water and sanitation, road networks and industrial sites. It was also noted that although an area like Domboramwari has better services than Gada, the former also lacks behind in terms of amenities development. It was noted in an earlier study that in contrast to Domboramwari, other settlement areas like Muguta and Makomo have better amenities like tarred roads, shops, blair toilets and tapped water (ITDG, 2001). Post Independence Epworth Household incomes Around 1978/9, just before independence in 1980, missionaries brought in refugees from a far as Mtoko, Murewa and Chimanimani who later settled on the fields of the original inhabitants of Epworth. The people of Epworth survived on agriculture and market gardening since pre-independence. The net effect of the reduction in the sizes of land available for agriculture and market gardening was a decimation of household incomes for many particularly the people of Chizungu.

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However with the increase in the number of employment opportunities in the capital city meant that those who had been dispossessed of their land by the influx of the home seekers had to look for paid employment to augment household income from agriculture. Now that the population had grown because of the former refugees the locals experienced a sudden wave of livestock rustling. This period, it was reported, saw the locals lose a big herd of cattle and thus a decline in this essential means of livelihood. Housing At Independence the increase in incomes for those who had secured jobs in towns because of minimum wage regulations saw an increase in housing units thatched of corrugated asbestos and or iron sheets for both Chizungu and Domboramwari. Notably, most of the houses were built of sunburnt bricks with a few houses having been constructed of cement blocks as well as burnt bricks in Domboramwari. With the demand for accommodation in Harare grew, there was also a proportional increase in the demand for lodgings in Epworth. This meant that many families notably in Domboramwari let out some of the rooms to lodgers. This sudden increase in the number of people in Domboramwari meant that the few social services became congested. Not only was there congestion on services but also that people started to subdivide and sell their stands to would be home seekers. The net result was that too many people were squashed on a small piece of land and thus reduction of land for gardening. This was not the case with Chizungu because the Missionaries prior to this placed the houses in formal lines. Health, Water and Sanitation There was a major outbreak of diarrhoea in the Epworth area round about the end of the decade. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that there was an influx of people into the area, lack of sanitary facilities, and lack of proper waste management systems. Though conflicting reports were noted, it is said the problem was concentrated in the Domboramwari area. This was counteracted by the construction of blair toilets and the promotion of safe water. Thus many families started protecting water sources and an improvement in the health standards was registered. Education and training There was a terrible congestion on the few schools in the area [Epworth] such that Chizungu introduced hot sitting to try and accommodate the high number of children in search of vacancies. There was no after school programs to absorb the school leavers and the majority the unemployment pool. 4.1. Vulnerability Context According to the SLF people live in an environment that is continuously changing and is predisposed to trends, shocks and seasons, over which they have limited or no control. These events or trends have both a direct and non-direct bearing on the livelihood of the society. This report as in accordance with the framework looks at the various key events both at national and local level.

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4.1.1. Economic and financial trends Zimbabwes economy has experienced a negative growth since the implementation of ESAP, employment creation and exports were both on a downward trend. ESAP resulted in massive retrenchments and its accompanying cost recovery measures in social service provision brought untold suffering to the majority. A galloping inflation characterized by high prices for basic goods saw many people go without a meal for some days. The high inflation pegged at 53.5% (1999) and over 105% (2002) has badly affected housing provision in urban centres and consequently the hiking of rentals. High cost of building materials, the negative supply compared to demand for cheap affordable housing for the low-income earners, and the subsequent high rentals plunged many into poverty. The withdrawal of the multilateral donors [World Bank & the IMF] and the negative publicity affecting tourism, the second major forex (foreign exchange) earner, towards the run up to the 2000 elections resulting in the shortage of foreign currency saw the thriving of the parallel market, fuel shortages, a hike in the prices of basic goods and services. The cost of transport, foodstuffs, and health care services rose beyond the reach of many. The fuel shortages and the subsequent hike in the price of paraffin resulted in the wanton destruction of the forests in and around Epworth as people sought firewood. The situation has been compounded by the current drought. The current company closures throwing many onto the streets has had a ripple effect on the informal sector in that many people have reduced disposable income to be able to purchase goods and services on the market. The high interests characteristic of this ailing economy has shuttered the dream of accessing credit for the poor. All financial institutions demand collateral in the form of immovable property and for the people of Epworth this is not just unattainable but also beyond their capacity. All residents of Epworth are on freehold title and this means no financial institution accepts this form of tenure as security or collateral. 4.1.2. Demographic trends The current agrarian reforms underway in the country have resulted in a new wave of rural-urban drift as the former farm workers seek alternative forms of livelihood and most end up on the periphery of urban centres. Epworth is no exception. The movement of low-income earners from the greater Harare to the peri-urban centres due to unaffordable rentals in the former has resulted in the growth of Epworths population. Ward 7 (Gada) continues to grow by the day and this is also true for Balancing Rocks. This scenario has resulted in densification thus leaving minimal space if any for cultivation. The main stay of the Epworth (originals) economy was agriculture [see evidence below] and market gardening and with the current developments more and more people have lost their fields and gardens to housing development. It is interesting to note that as far back as 1965 some of the Epworth people had Grain Marketing Board cards as shown in figure 1.

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Figure 1: Grain Marketing Board card

This population boom has put pressure on the available resources notably, sanitary facilities, educational facilities, forests, and employment opportunities. In some areas like Gada land shortages have resulted in the acquisition of formerly market gardening plots. On the social front, crime levels have more than doubled since the start of the informal settlements. The community is complaining of thefts of vegetables in their gardens, muggings and all sorts of vices notably in Balancing Rocks and Domboramwari where houses are squashed and there is poor lighting during the night. 4.1.3 Health and Well-being The poor performing economy and the resultant shortages, has seen many poor families of Epworth only having at most a single meaningful meal a day, it has been reported. Children go to school unfed and without a bath because the price of soap has risen beyond the means of many. The unaffordability of good food and lack of personal hygiene has exposed many families in Epworth to high incidence of poverty related illnesses. The state of houses and housing congestion in Ward 7 (Gada) and Domboramwari, lack of a waste management system in both areas as well as in Balancing Rocks has exposed the community to diseases and explains why there is a high prevalence of acute respiratory infections and diarrhoea in Epworth. Solid waste is strewn all over the community in Ward 7 and the high number of open pits in and around the area creates a good breeding ground for pathogens. A casual lifestyle of the people of Domboramwari, Balancing Rocks and Ward 7, characterized by prostitution exposes the community to HIV/AIDS.

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Between 1986 and 1989, the GoZ funded the construction of Blair toilets in ward 4 (Chizungu). Plan International funded the provision of clean and safe water and the building of Blair toilets to the community (Domboramwari and Chizungu). In Domboramwari, only 200 households have Blair toilets while the rest use either a pit latrine or the bush system. Not many families were willing at the onset of the program to contribute towards the provision of the toilet by digging and building their own toilets while Plan provided cement. 4.1.4. Natural Hazards Cyclone Eline induced rains of the year 2000 resulted in the collapsing of a substantial number of houses and toilets in Domboramwari where the soils are sand loams. Many of the houses were neither built of good quality bricks nor cement mortar. While some were plastered the plastering was not strong enough to withstand all weather types. Most of the roads in and around Domboramwari were virtually washed away by the same flooding caused by Cyclone Eline rains. The current drought ravaging the country has not spared the people of Epworth. This means there is a food shortage in the country hence the urban poor are the hardest hit as most government and donor efforts (food relief) is concentrated in the rural area where poverty has always been assumed to be most affecting. Community well being is thus at stake and hence individual productivity is reduced. 4.1.5. Social Conflict and Insecurity The emergence of multi-party politics in the late 1999 saw many clashes in the Epworth community destroying not only physical property but also the social fabric that held the community together. The worst disturbances were during the run up to the 2000 parliamentary elections and this was carried forward to the presidential elections of 2002. This lack of cohesion among the residents of this community has created a favourable environment for crime since anything can simply be blamed on the prevailing political dispensation. A sense of mistrust has been observed among the community members and one group blames the other for the situation in which they are. Though there have not been conflicts over land boundaries among the community members there is a greater sense of insecurity among the people of Gada and Balancing Rocks and all those who have settled themselves on undesignated land. In the history of Epworth there have been two successful evictions of informal settlers [1985 & 1991] and therefore the people of ward 7 and Balancing Rocks are ever fearful. Intimidations that one-day these people will be moved to yet an unknown place leads to fear and fear breeds suspicion and mistrust. This mistrust is usually targeted towards people of authority. When the PUA team entered Balancing Rocks team underwent a thorough grilling as the community leadership requested identification and to know why the team was there. Roadside vendors and artisans often leave designated sites in pursuit of good business: In front of major shops; At sites earmarked for some other development; and At road junctions.

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These informal sector participants have not been spared from the forced removals. This group of people also exhibited signs and symptoms of insecurity. 4.1.6. Seasonality There are seasonal fluctuations in terms of income inflows for most of the Epworth residents. This often coincides with periods of dire need for cash to meet daily expenses such as the purchase of food. The summer season is one such period that brings untold suffering for most people for the following reasons: Most companies shut down for the Christmas season and hence the casual labourers are laid off for most part of this period; Vegetable vending is usually at its lowest since the community rely on the summer greens for relish; Brick moulding and masonry is again at its lowest due to the rains. The rains make it difficult to make bricks and hence down stream activities such as building are also curtailed; Sand poaching, which is quite common with most youths, is also affected because some of the sites where the sand is extracted tend to be waterlogged, making it difficult for the trucks to pass; Wood vending is also at its lowest because firewood use is not that preferred because of the moisture content. This season is once again the same period which families have to pay school fees for their children, in January when schools open. The beginning of the rain season brings with it challenges too for the poor Epworth families notably in Domboramwari. Most houses because of ageing, dilapidated structures and leaking roofs become dangerous and difficult to live under as chances of collapsing are increased. The income fluctuations by season and the accompanying insecurity mean that most families are vulnerable and are exposed to yet many more life challenges such as: non payment of rentals ill health school dropouts. There are also seasonal fluctuations in the availability of potable water for people in Balancing Rocks and Gada. The situation has been exacerbated by the current drought. During the winter season, the majority of shallow wells dry up forcing families to queue at few water points and often some families have to walk long distances. When this happens it means another expense since they have to pay about $100 per month for the water.

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5. ASSET PROFILE
The upcoming texts show the core of livelihood outcomes that were noted in Epworth. Due to relative similarities in access to and control over some assets like natural, physical and human capital the profiles of all the four wards are documented simultaneously. However, social assets that tend to be differential as per an area have been documented using case profiles for each of the four study areas. This helps to assess the existing institutions, their role in the community and intervention measures that can be done to strengthen peoples livelihoods. 5.1.1. Housing Houses in the four areas of Epworth where the study was conducted are mostly built of bricks of low quality. This also applies to other material used on the houses. The following table 1 presents a summary of the nature and state of housing structures found in Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks areas. Table 1: Housing Conditions
PHYSICA L ASSETS Housing Chizungu Domboramwari Gada Balancing Rocks

Most use Kimberley green / farm bricks. Very few houses are built using blocks roofed with asbestos and tiles.

Most use sunburnt / farm bricks. Some houses have collapsed in rain. Most people cannot afford to buy burnt bricks which Z$5 800.00 per 1000, cement blocks cost Z$50.00 each and standard bricks cost Z$15.00 each

Most use sunburnt / farm bricks. Most not plastered and no concrete slab. Some houses have developed cracks while some collapse in rain. A few people have used blocks to build their houses

Most use sunburnt / farm bricks. Some are plastered outside. Not strong. Most houses have metal window frames but do not have windowpanes. Plastics and cubboard boxes are used are put on the window frames. Room size vary from one to four.

Roofing is metal sheets or grass.

Roofing mostly old asbestos, plastics, metals. Blocks of wood are used as window frames. The window holes are very small which makes most of the rooms dark even during daylight. Most of the doors are of cheap wood and are not strong.

Roofing mostly cracked asbestos. Some scrap metal.

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Stands include structures for lodgers and married children. Space for farming becoming limited.

Stands include structures for lodgers and married children.

Stands house 8-16 people Pay rent to ELB of Z$255 but do not know what it is for since this is not reinvested in the area. Stands originally built on one acre stands but sizes have been reduced due to sub-divisions for married sons. New settlers have invaded places such as New Gada originally meant for married sons.

Stands house 816 people.

Stand sizes vary Some stands include considerably lodgers. Houses are from 100 to 600 small because of m2. uncertain tenure. Stand sizes vary from 300 square meters to 450 square meters Stands house 616 Stands house up people. to 10 people. Pay rent to ELB of Z$250 255 but do not know what it is for since this is not reinvested in the area.

More than 70% of people interviewed said that their houses were constructed using farm/sunburnt bricks. Figure 2: Type of bricks used

80 70 60 50 % 40 30 20 10 0

s s rs ks ck ck he ric bri Blo Ot nb rm mo Fa om C

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Figure 4 shows a round hut in Chizungu built using farm bricks and roofed with grass. However, there are also some houses, which were built using blocks, roofed with asbestos and tiles. Few people can afford to build houses of this quality. Figure 3: Round hut

A picture showing a family in Chizungu area standing by a round hut built of farm bricks, which is used as a kitchen.

In most cases, the houses have two to four rooms. 88% of questionnaire respondents said that their houses have two rooms. 9% said that their housing structures have a single room. 1.4% of the respondents said that their houses have three rooms and 0.3% said they have houses with four rooms. At most homesteads rooms are not enough since each had at least eight people and lodgers in some instances. This causes either boys or girls to sleep in sitting rooms or kitchens. Where rooms are extremely inadequate, some children are forced to go and sleep with friends or relatives. A lodger who rents a single room has to divide the room with a curtain so that parents can sleep on the other side while boys and girls share the other side. Lodgers pay Z$500.00 to Z$600.00/per month for a single

25

room. One residential stand can have more than two housing structures comprising at most two rooms each. In most cases the additional structures are meant for lodgers and children who are married and have their own families. Figure 5 shows the kind of houses found in Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks.

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Figure 4: Housing Structure

The above picture shows a house in Chizungu built of sunburnt or farm bricks, with cracked asbestos and without a proper window.

5.1.2. Water Access to water for drinking, cooking and for watering crops in Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks is a problem despite the fact that Chizungu and Domboramwari have tapped water while the other two areas rely on unprotected wells. Table 2 below gives a summary of the state of water resources in all the four areas.

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Table 2: Sources of water

PHYSIC AL ASSET Water Chizungu Domboramwari Gada Balancing Rocks

There is a tap at each stand installed by Plan International, but some cannot afford to pay ELB, so they are closed. ELB requires Z$15 000. 00 for the metre that was installed and Z$10 000.00 for the pipes.

Some owners have sunk wells. Those without wells pay between Z$25.00 and Z$30.00/month to get water from those with wells. Water from the wells decrease between July and October each year.

Tapped water from 11 water points with ELB attendant. The water points were put by Plan International in 1995. Only 20l buckets allowed, max 200l per day. 5l containers are not allowed. Residents pay a flat rate of Z$317 per month to get water after producing an up to date receipt and an ELB card. Water points are open between 7.30am and 10.00am, 11.00am and 1.00pm and 6.00pm. There are always queues at the points in the mornings and evenings. One can stand in a queue for between 15 and 30 minutes. Water from water points is not enough for cooking laundry etc. Some owners have sunk wells to supplement water from the water points. A number of wells have now dried up while some have collapsed.

No taps. Rely on water from unprotected wells situated a some homesteads. Those without wells purchase water for between Z$50.00 to Z$100.00/month. The number of households that fetch water from a single well vary from 7 to 40. Queues at most wells start as early as 4am. One can get unlimited quantity. Water levels in wells drop as from May and some deepen them for Z$1 500.00 per meter. Some use stream water e.g. for laundry.

No taps. Rely on water from unprotected wells. The majority of residents do not have wells. It costs between Z$8 000.00 and $12 000.00 to have a well sunk.

Those with wells charge a monthly rate to share them. Some have dried up.

Only some have wells. Those with wells charge between Z$160.00 and Z$300.00/month. Some wells have dried up.

In all the four areas where the study was done, 90% of the people interviewed said that they rely heavily on water from unprotected wells, 7.5% from water taps and 2.5% from

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rivers. According to the figure 6, less than 25% of the respondents said that the water they were getting was sufficient while less than 30% said that the availability of water was satisfactory. Figure 5: Community water sufficiency

35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
oo d Sa tis fa ct or y oo d go od G Po or Ve ry Po or po or

% %

The quality of the water in all the areas was generally described being poor as shown in the graph below.

Figure 6: Quality of community water

go od

Ve ry

45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
Sa tis fa ct or G y

Figure 8 below shows one of the taps installed by Plan International in Chizungu area but which the Local Board locked since the residents did not pay the required fees to ELB to have access to the water.

Ve ry

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Figure 7: Tapped water source

A woman in Chizungu area stands next to a locked water tap located in her yard. She did not manage to raise the money required by the ELB to have the tap unlocked.

Figure 9 shows one of the water points in Domboramwari ward.

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Figure 8: Water Point

A water point in Domboramwari

The participants at PUAs said that they were not happy about the amount of money they were paying for water to ELB because they get little water per day in return. The money they are paying for water is fixed. If a certain homestead does not get water for that month, it still has to pay at the end of the month. Figure 10 shows an example of unprotected wells found in Balancing Rocks, Chizungu, Gada and Domboramwari areas.

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Figure 9: Unprotected well

An example of unprotected wells in Epworth.

In all the four areas, the residents said that the quality of water they are currently drinking was poor. The graph below shows that 40% of the residents interviewed said that the water they got from unprotected wells, taps and rivers was generally poor. 5.1.3. Toilets The majority of homesteads in Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks have unventilated pit latrine toilets. This subsection describes the nature of the pit latrines found in the study areas. The following table summarizes the state of toilets found in the study areas.

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Table 3: Toilets
Physical Asset Toilets Chizungu Unventilated pit latrines. A number of pit latrines have collapsed as a result of heavy rains. Domboramwari Most homesteads have unventilated pit latrines while a few Blair toilets built with assistance from Plan International. A number of pit latrines have collapsed as a result of heavy rains. Gada Unventilated pit latrines. A number of pit latrines have collapsed as a result of heavy rains. Balancing Rocks Unventilated pit latrines. A number of pit latrines have collapsed as a result of heavy rains.

The pit/s located at the back or on the side of the toilet. The pits are covered with logs, plastics and soil. During the rainy seasons when the ground is not strong due to moisture, most of the pits collapse and thereby exposing human waste to open air

The graph below shows that more than 60% of the respondents said that their pit latrines were unventilated while 32.1% said they have ventilated pit latrines. 0.7% of the respondents said that they use the bush as their toilet. Figure 10: Type of toilet
80 60 40 20 0 Ventilated pit latrine Non ventilated pit latrine Type Bush

Figure 12 shows the outside structure of a pit latrine in Gada while figure 7 shows the inside.

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Figure 11: Pit latrine

The above picture shows the inside part of an unventilated pit latrine.

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Figure 12: Pit latrine from the outside

The picture shows the outside part of an unventilated pit latrine. To the left of the structure are asbestos and logs covering the pit where the waste is supposed to be taken.

5.1.4. Refuse ELB does not collect refuse from Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks areas. The following table summarizes how refuse is disposed by the residents in all the four areas. Table 4: Refuse disposal
PHYSIC AL ASSETS Refuse Chizungu Domboramwari Gada Balancing Rocks

No collection of refuse by ELB due to poor roads in the area and lack of transport. Each homestead has its own rubbish pit. Bottles and metal are dumped anywhere

No collection of refuse by ELB due to poor roads in the area and lack of transport. Each homestead has its own rubbish pit. Bottles and metal are dumped anywhere

No collection of refuse by ELB due to poor roads in the area and lack of transport. Each homestead has its own rubbish pit. Bottles and metal are dumped anywhere

No collection of refuse by ELB due to poor roads in the area and lack of transport. Each homestead has its own rubbish pit. Bottles and metal are dumped anywhere

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5.1.5. Energy Houses in Chizungu, Gada and Domboramwari and Balancing Rocks do not have electricity. The main source of energy used for cooking is paraffin. Candles and paraffin are used for lighting. Paraffin is used more for cooking since firewood is scarce and expensive in all the areas. Table 5 below shows the sources of energy for cooking and lighting used by the people in the study areas. Table 5: Sources of energy
PHYSIC AL ASSETS Energy Chizungu Domboramwari Gada Balancing Rocks

All houses do not have electricity. Paraffin is the main source of energy for cooking and lighting. Firewood is rarely used because it is scarce.

All houses do not have electricity. Paraffin is the main source of energy for cooking and lighting. Firewood is rarely used because it is scarce.

All houses do not have electricity. Paraffin is the main source of energy for cooking and lighting. Firewood is rarely used because it is scarce.

All houses do not have electricity. Paraffin is the main source of energy for cooking and lighting. Firewood is rarely used because it is scarce.

The figure 14 shows that about 79% of the respondents rely on paraffin for cooking. A few people use gas and solar energy in Epworth.

Figure 13: Energy sources for cooking Enery source for cooking
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Electricity Wood Paraffin Gas Solar

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5.1.6. Roads The whole of Epworth area has few roads that were properly constructed. Good roads are found at the periphery of the study areas. Within areas like Chizungu, Gada and Domboramwari and Balancing Rocks, there have not been any attempts by the ELB to construct roads. This subsection describes the nature of the roads found in the study areas. Table 6 below summarizes the state of roads in the study areas. Table 6: Roads
PHYSIC AL ASSETS Roads Chizungu Domboramwari Gada Balancing Rocks

No proper road network. The roads that are there were originally paths used by cattle

The settlers made the paths, which are there between 1995 and 1997. The paths in both areas have been badly damaged by rains

The roads make it difficult for people to transport their things using vehicles. Those with cars actually damage them by using the current roads. Transport to most parts of the area is limited by the unavailability of proper roads. Some people walk for 30 minutes to the nearest commuter bus terminus.

5.2.7. Transport Transport to and from town or Mbare costs Z$40.00 per trip. This was said to be to unaffordable by most residents in Chizungu, Gada, Domboramwari and Balancing Rocks. Luggage, which one can carry on the lap in the bus, has to be paid for. Transport to town or Mbare is usually a problem during the mornings, evenings and during weekdays when people will be going or coming back from work. There is always a shortage of transport on Saturdays since religious people who withdraw them on this day own some of the buses.

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6.1. NATURAL CAPITAL This section looks at the natural capital that exists in Epworth. Generally, the four study areas tend to have similar emerging trends when it comes to the available natural resources and their access. 6.1.1. Forests: Generally, the four wards have limited trees and grazing area due to land shortages. Settlers have occupied most of the land that used to be forests. The increased demand for firewood has also resulted in the wantonly cutting down of trees. The depletion of the forest base was also blamed on the weak control systems that exist in the ward. It was noted that the Natural Resources Board (NRB) was not enforcing by-laws pertaining to the protection of natural forests. There was also limited education on the importance of protecting these natural resources. 6.1.2. Rivers There were three main rivers that were highlighted i.e. Jacha, Charoyi and Sakamuchenje. The rivers have been a source of market gardening activities that are dominated by women. Market gardening projects along riverbanks were more pronounced in Domboramwari and Chizungu. Lack of space tends to inhibit this practice in Balancing Rocks and Gada. However, the existing gardens along Jacha river in Domboramwari were demarcated during the colonial period. The following crops are grown in the gardens: peas, onions, beans, covo etc. However, thieves who stole some of the produce were hampering market gardening activities. The gardens were not fenced and this made it easier for the thieves to steal. The increased costs of inputs like fertilisers, pesticides and seeds were also negatively affecting productivity. Thus, some people were now operating the gardens for subsistence purposes without having any surplus for sale. 6.1.3 Sand: the issue of sand extraction was depicted as a contested issue in Epworth. A lot of outsiders and local residents were making a living through selling sand. Some of the people were using sand to manufacture bricks for sale. Most of the sand was taken along rivers and streams found in the area. The sand has a high demand within Epworth were a lot of people are building their homesteads. In addition, and on a greater scale it was noted that the demand for sand was much higher among outsiders, especially in Ruwa where some posh houses were being built. 6.1.4. Issues: It was also noted that environmental degradation was on the increase due to sand extractions. A lot of pits that are not reclaimed were common in most areas in the ward and Epworth at large. During the rain season the pits have been a source of mosquito breeding. The pits are also a source of danger to animals and people since they risk falling over into the pits. The participants were of the opinion that lack of enforcement on existing by-laws was a hindrance in achieving sustainable use of the resources base. This was also made worse by the increase in population in the area.

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6.2. HUMAN CAPITAL

Information in the ward is usually obtained from the following sources: Radio and television, Meetings. Newspapers Grapevine (word of mouth), Volunteer Health Workers. 6.2.1. Issues: Generally, during the PUAs participants highlighted that most people in Epworth have radios than televisions. However, it was noted that car batteries that were used for radios and televisions were now expensive. Thus, some people who have televisions were reluctant to switch them on since they consume more energy than radios. This has resulted in limited information that could be obtained from the television set. Newspapers are not sold in the ward, but at nearby shops that fall under Hatfield. However, the following statistical data gives a testimony to the predominance of the grapevine and radios as important agents of information networking. Figure: Sources of information
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
N ew sp ap er G ra pe vi ne M ee tin gs R ad io vi si on

Te le

Type

In Balancing Rocks we noted that constant meetings were held in the ward and these have been a good source of information dissemination. The construction of an office is also intended to facilitate the flow of information among residents of Balancing Rocks. There has been informal health training in all the wards done by community-based health workers. For example, in Balancing Rocks there are two volunteer health workers who move around educating residents about good health care. The teachings include waste disposal and the need to build toilet structures per homestead. However, the volunteers have no formal training in their activities and this has resulted in some people not taking their activities seriously. However, the participants felt that they were lacking information on the following: Viable income generating activities, Health related issues, for example on HIV/AIDS, How the area can be made a formal settlement, and How to get funding for housing and other related projects.

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It was noted that all the wards except Chizungu were in need of pre-schools/crches. Similarly primary schools were limited and children were walking long distances to attend school at places like Domboramwari.
6.3. SOCIAL CAPITAL

In this section we show and analyse social capital prevalent in each ward. We also analyse peoples perceptions about the existing institutions and related emerging trends.
6.4. SOCIAL CAPITAL: DOMBORAMWARI

Institutional Analysis: The following institutions and their functions were identified. 6.4.1. Burial Societies There were various burial societies found in the area, of which some were formed way back in the 1930s. The burial societies that were identified are: Chizungu Burial Society: formed in 1939, Mupawo Burial Society (1970s), Chiedza Burial Society (1970), Nhamo Burial Society (1970), Kuwadzana Burial Society (1979), Mbereko Burial Society (1982), and Tatenda Burial Society (1990s). 6.4.2. Issues Generally, the functions of burial societies are to help relatives of bereaved members to cater for the costs related to burial. Members of burial societies pay monthly contributions, which tend to vary as per organisation. For example, members of Mupawo and Nhamo Burial societies pay monthly contributions of Z$250 and Z$300, respectively. During bereavements the societies may contribute help in terms of cash. Tatenda Burial Society pays out a maximum of Z$14 000 to the bereaved family. The burial societies are playing an important role in the community due to a number of deaths occurring as a result of HIV/Aids pandemic. However, due to the high inflation that has resulted in an upsurge of food, transport and coffins, the contributions are seen as not adequate to cover funeral expenses. 6.4.3. Plan International Participants recognised the importance and role played by Plan International, an NGO in the area. It was noted that the NGO came into the area in the early 1990s. Among some of its projects sponsored in the area were: 1. Water and Sanitation: pipes were erected for water supply into residential areas. People were also helped with the construction of Blair toilets. 2. Orphanage Care: orphans were identified and given educational support through the payment of school fees, uniforms, food and medicinal supply. 3. It helped in the construction of a creche or childrens day care centre.

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6.4.4. Cooperatives Three cooperatives that operate in the area are: Kushandisa Maoko Cooperative, Epilepsy Group, and Sand Extraction Cooperative. 6.4.5. Consultative Committee The Consultative Committee has ten members comprised of eight men and two women. The committee was formed in 2002 and they are relatively new in the area. Thus, most people in the community were not aware of its function. The Consultative Committee superseded the Development Committee that once operated in the 1980s. It was however, noted that the role of the Consultative Committee does not differ much with the former development committees. Some of the functions of the Consultative Committee that were pointed by the participants include: Coming up with development problems being faced by the community and then submit them to the Epworth Local Board, Giving feedback to the community about development issues desired by the ELB, Liasing with Commissioners that were appointed to run Epworth, on development issues, and attending Board meetings on behalf of the community. 6.4.6. Issues: It was noted that the Consultative Committee had at least one success since it was chosen. It lobbied against the increase of tax on land or development levy that had been proposed by the Local Board. The increase on levy charges was postponed until 2003. Participants argued that they do not know the importance of the levy since the area was lagging behind in terms of infrastructural development. Although the community paid local taxes the ward had poor roads and there was no electricity. Participants also argued that they built their homesteads alone, thus there was no need of paying the taxes. The main argument that was repeatedly pointed out was that the people living in the ward were the original inhabitants of Epworth, thus they needed preferential treatment in the development process. 6.4.7. Epworth Local Board All the participants knew about the Local Board, but they blamed it for not facilitating development projects into the area. It was noted that the Board was slow in responding to peoples needs. It was highlighted that way back in 1999 the community had complained to the Local Board about the poor road networks, but no concrete action had been taken. 6.4.8 Religious Groups/Churches There were two main religious groups that were noted in the community. These were: 1. Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, and 2. Apostolic Sect.

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6.4.9. Issues: Most of the people attend Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, which earlier owned Epworth. Since it was the only church in the area most people in the ward grew up attending the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. However, it recent years there has been a plethora of indigenous churches in the ward. Most of them were apostolic sects who use open areas for their prayer sessions. The participants noted that due to increase of socio-economic problems being experienced, people were now turning to these sects for spiritual salvation.

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6.5. SOCIAL CAPITAL: CHIZUNGU

6.5.1. Burial Societies Unite Burial Society (formed in 1995), Kurova Shiri Burial Society (1980), and Nyaungwe Burial Society (1980). 6.5.2. Issues Kurove Shiri and Nyaungwe Burial Societies have members in other wards and locations. Nyaungwe Burial Society was formed in 1968 in Highfields suburb and the Epworth branch was then launched in 1980. Most of these burial societies provide food, transport and a coffin when one of its members dies. Participants noted that deaths have been increasing in Epworth such that the local cemetery was almost full to capacity. An increase of informal settlers and the HIV/Aids pandemic have resulted in more demand for burial land in Epworth. 6.5.3. Plan International Plan International was highly regarded by participants due to its sterling development work in the ward. The following interventions were sponsored by the NGO: 6.5.4. Orphanage Care School fees, school uniforms, blankets and food were given to orphans. 6.5.5. Water and Sanitation Plan International started operating in Epworth in 1984 and constructed community boreholes. Later on, piped water points were built in the area. The ward has an estimated fifteen public water points that are widely distributed among residents. 6.5.6. Construction In 1998, Plan International built Zinyengere Primary School in the ward. Water and toilets were also constructed at the school. A maternity section was also built by the NGO at Epworth Polyclinic. Previously patients used to go to Harare or had to contend with local elderly women for baby deliveries. 6.5.7. Market Place A market place was constructed for people to sell their vegetable. However, the market place was not in use due to various factors. Participants highlighted that the Local Board was charging fees for users and this has discouraged people to use the market place. The market was also not strategically positioned since it was far away from roads and shops. Thus, sellers prefer to market their commodities along roads and closer to shops. Plan International also helped in tarring the main road in the ward. 6.5.8. Issues: Most people in the group discussion knew that Plan International wanted to leave the area and work elsewhere. However, they appreciated the work that had been done by the NGO

in improving their living conditions since the 1980s. They noted that they also hope to have a good working relationship with ITDG Southern Africa. 6.5.9. Mashambanzou Trust Mashambanzou Trust is an NGO that also received support from Plan International. Mashambanzou engaged in HIV/Aids related programmes and some of its projects were: 6.5.10. Home-based Care Mashambanzou Trust provides counselling and food to HIV/Aids victims. Orphans were provided with ten kilogrammes of maize meal every month, margarine and fish. 6.5.11. HIV/Aids awareness Working with Community Health Workers to arise awareness of the deadly disease. 6.5.12. Cooperatives The participants highlighted the following cooperatives: Hama Maoko Cooperative, Kubatana Cooperative, Kumboedza Cooperative, Shingirirai Cooperative, and Sunrise Cooperative. 6.5.13. Issues: It seems some of the cooperatives found in the ward are there by name only, since no operations have been implemented. Key informants helped to highlight the reasons behind the existence of cooperatives that failed to take off besides having members and specific objectives. These cooperatives include Kumboedza, Shingirirai and Sunrise. It seems the fundamental reason for forming the cooperatives was merely to have access to money. The cooperatives were formed towards the 2000 parliamentary elections and they had targeted funding from the Ministry of Youth, Gender and Employment Creation. The Ministry was giving funds to cooperatives that had ten (10) or more members and with bank accounts. The cooperatives were formed rashly in expectation of funding. Thus, when the funding failed to materialise, the cooperatives armed with their bank accounts failed to carry out any projects due to lack of funds. It is interesting to note that members of the aforementioned cooperatives were no longer having meetings or contributing money to the bank account. However, two cooperatives, Hama Maoko and Kubatana had projects that were at least active on the ground. 6.5.14. Hama Maoko Cooperative Hama Maoko Cooperative was formed in 1985. It has 5 members (4 women and 1 man). The cooperative specialises in market gardening and among others the following crops are grown:

Tomatoes, Onions, Beans, and Maize.

The Local Board gave the land being used for market gardening to the cooperative. The cooperative also has a bank account with Beverly Building Society. The problems being faced by the cooperative include persistent increase in the prices of inputs (fertilisers and seeds) and thefts. However, a ready market exists for their produce. 6.5.15. Kubatana Cooperative This cooperative was formed in the year 2000. The cooperative is composed of eight (8) women, of which six of them belong to the Johane Masowe apostolic church. The cooperative specialises in sewing and selling of second hand clothes. They also sell metal to fellow church members who engage in metal work. The cooperative has a bank account with Beverly Building Society. Increased costs of clothing, transport cost and shortage of sewing machines were noted as some of the problems hindering productivity for the cooperative. 6.5.16. Epworth Local Board All the participants knew the Local Board. It was noted that the Local Board was seen as being slow in implementing projects like roads, sewer and water reticulation. The Local Board was also blamed for delays in providing feedback to residents on development issues and problems sent to it. It was noted that things may improve due to the formation of the Consultative Committees. 6.5.17. Consultative Committee The Consultative Committee has ten members comprised of seven men and three women. The committee is relatively new in the area since it was formed in 2002. Participants highlighted that the Consultative Committee was supposed to: Unite people in the ward, Send community priorities to the Local Board, and Hold development meetings with Commissioners and the Local Board. Some of the community needs and priorities that were sent to the Local Board were: Roads: there were no accessible roads in the ward, Housing and Stand Plans: most of the household plots were not pegged, Toilet: in public places especially at Domboramwari Bus Station, Electricity: most houses and shops do not have electricity. Water and Sanitation: to increase the water points in the ward since they are few compared to the inhabitants. It was estimated that the ward had at least fifteen water points, and Footbridge: they are needed for easier access to areas like Kazungu Secondary School. School children had to work long distances since there is a stream that cuts across the ward and the school.

6.5.18. Issues: Just like in other wards, most people were not aware of the existence and functions of the Consultative Committee. This was more prevalent among youths who lamented that lack of meetings and political linkages associated with the Consultative Committee tend to discourage their participation. Some of the members of the Consultative Committee said that they have not yet seen the two commissioners who were chosen by the Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing. This was despite the fact that the two commissioners live in Epworth. 6.5.19. Religious Groups/Churches There were two main religious groups that were noted in the community. These were: 1. Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, and 2. Apostolic Sects. 6.5.20. Issues: Most of the people attend Methodist Church of Zimbabwe, which used to own the whole of Epworth. Since it was the only church in the area most people in the ward grew up attending the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe. However, in recent years there have been a plethora of indigenous churches in the ward. Most of them were apostolic sects who use open areas for their prayer sessions. The participants noted that due to increased socioeconomic problems being experienced, people were now turning to these sects for spiritual salvation.
6.6. SOCIAL CAPITAL: GADA

The following institutions and their functions were identified. 6.6.1. Burial Societies There were few burial societies in the area. Participants were able to highlight the following burial societies: Tongogara Burial Society, Nyaradzo Burial Society, and Zviratidzo Zvemapositori. 6.6.2. Issues The burial societies help relatives of the deceased to cover burial costs. Most of the burial societies were relatively new in the ward. For example, Tongogara Burial Society is less than two years old. While Tongogara and Nyaradzo Burial Societies are community based, Zviratidzo Zvemapositori is religiously linked to members of the apostolic sect. 6.6.3. Plan International There were few activities carried out by the NGO in the ward. This emanated from the fact that the ward is depicted as an informal settlement. Thus, the NGO was not in a position to carry out long term projects like building of schools. However, the NGO helped orphans by providing them with school fees, school uniforms and food. The participants highlighted that there were few beneficiaries in Gada than in other wards.

6.6.4. Cooperatives The participants highlighted the following cooperatives: Tamuka Tashinga Zvinoda Kushinga Zvido zvevanhu

6.6.5. Issues: 1. Tamuka 10 women formed it in 2001. The women are engaged in handicraft and most of their products are exported to South Africa. 2. Tashinga It has 20 women. They do sewing of seat covers for lounge suites and chairs. The machines are leased from private individuals. 3. Zvinoda Kushinga It was formed in 2001 and is composed of 10 women and they engage in sewing. They also hire their machines. 4. Zvido zvevanhu The cooperative was formed in 2002 and has 10 men. It specialises in the production of farm bricks that are sold locally. 6.6.6. Consultative Committee The Consultative Committee has eleven members comprised of seven men and eight women. The committee is relatively new in the ward having been formed in June 2002. Most people, especially the youth do not know the function of the Consultative Committee. The Committee was formed in a hurry and no formal ward meetings had been held. However, the Committee participates in meetings held by the Local Board. Development problems and needs that the Committee sent to the Local Board includes: The need to formally recognise the settlement, Road maintenance, Provision of water and sanitary services, and The construction of schools and creche. 6.6.7. Issues: Members of the Consultative Committee who were present during the group discussions agreed that a lot has to be done for Gada to develop. Most of the people came to settle in the area just before and soon after the 2000 nation wide elections. Since the government was carrying out land reforms, residents of Gada saw their settlement as part of the reforms. Thus, they feel that they should not be depicted as illegal settlers or squatters. Most of the settlers came from different high density areas like Mbare, Ruwa, Tafara and Mabvuku to settle in Gada.

6.6.8. Epworth Local Board All the participants knew about the Local Board, but they want it to formally recognise them as legal settlers. They argued that since they were paying rates they were supposed to be provided with infrastructural services. 6.6.9. Religious Groups/Churches There is a Seventh Day Adventist Church, but it is located in Ward 6, in an area, which falls under Gada. The ward has numerous religious groups belonging to apostolic sects. The prayer sessions are held in the open and done almost every day.
6.7. SOCIAL CAPITAL: BALANCING ROCKS

Institutional Analysis: The following institutions and their functions were identified. 6.7.1. Burial Societies There was one burial society that operates in the ward, called Vadzanai. It was formed on the 4th of May 2002. It is composed of twelve households. 6.7.2. Issues: The intention of the burial society is to help members in times of bereavement by buying coffins and food at funerals. Since the burial society was recently formed monetary contributions that are the basis of helping members are still low. However, they are yet to use the money because no bereavement had happened in the area during the time of the research. 6.7.3. NGOs and Cooperatives There were no NGOs that have assisted the residents. The participants noted that NGOs were not operating in Balancing Rocks because their settlement was not legalised by the ELB. The residents in Balancing Rocks are recognised by the Local Board and other legalised settlers as squatters or photocopies as one woman constantly highlighted during the PUAs. Photocopies, just because the illegal settlers of Balancing Rocks were making a false sense of hope by seeing themselves as legally settled residents. Thus, the Local Board was diverting NGOs to other wards like Domboramwari and Chizungu. It was noted that the arrival of ITDG Southern Africa through the PUAs was the only intervention measure from an NGO that have been experienced in the ward. 6.7.4. Consultative Committee The Consultative Committee was formed in July 2002. All the participants were aware about the supposed functions of the consultative committee. People were aware about the committee due to constant meetings that are held in the ward. The ward has a meeting place and an office, which was being constructed by the residents to serve as a ward administrative unit. 6.7.5. Issues: The Consultative Committee was liaising with the Local Board on the following issues: The construction of water points. The Local Board promised to construct four water points. However, the residents said that this was little and at least ten would suffice.

Legalising the settlement. The ELB said that it has no jurisdiction over the land tenure of Balancing Rocks because the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe owned the area. In addition, the rocks that exist in the area were a hindrance for establishing a formal settlement. The participants vowed that they were not moving away from the place despite the negative remarks being made about the settlement. They also argued that since the Local Board was charging them service fees that at least show that they were legally settled. Roads: the ward was in need of roads for easy accessibility. Industrial Site: people need an industrial site to carry out various projects like welding and carpentry.

6.7.6. Epworth Local Board The participants knew about the Local Board, but they blamed it for not facilitating development projects into the area. The participants said that the Local Board should facilitate development in the ward. 6.7.7. Religious Groups/Churches There were no existing church buildings that exist in the ward. However, some residents were members of the following churches: 1. Methodist Church in Zimbabwe, and 2. Apostolic Sects. 3. ZAOGA

7. FINANCIAL CAPITAL
Financial capital denotes the financial resources that the people use to achieve their livelihoods objectives. This section looks at the financial resources that are accessible to the people in Chizungu, Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks in the form of loans, credits, savings and remittances. There are no organizations that provide credits or loans to the people in Domboramwari, Chizungu, Balancing Rocks and Gada to enable them to build better houses or to embark on income generating activities. No organizations have ever provided these services in the past. The residents of Gada were only promised financial assistance by organizations such as Plan International in the past but it was not forthcoming. They were made to fill in forms for financial assistance and do not know what happened to them. As a result of the rise in the cost of living, most people in Domboramwari, Chizungu and Gada are failing to save any money for future use. In the past they used to save money to buy property such as radios and kitchen utensils. This is no longer possible due to economic hardships. There are many things which have to be paid for now and these include rent, water and school fees (Isnt the point is not that they are now many but that the costs are higher?) Parents in all the study areas said that since the early 1990s, their children who are working have not been able to send remittances to them. The blame was put on the rising cost of living and the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme, which saw many people being retrenched from employment. Only 3.7% of the people who responded to the questionnaire said that they were receiving remittances from their children and other relatives. 96.3 of the respondents said that they were not receiving any remittances. Some of the children who were working are no longer working while others who completed school recently are finding it hard to secure any form of employment. Parents are even looking after children who should be working and living on their own.

8. POLICIES, INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES

Epworth Local Board [ELB] was constituted by an act of Parliament and its function is, to give Epworth a facelift in preparation for its incorporation into the greater Harare, said Mrs. Chakazamba [secretary to the Local Board]. Thus the board is responsible for transforming this formerly rural community to an urban status. Therefore it should be borne in mind that the policies, institutions and processes in place are meant to fulfill the above obligations. 8.1. Land Use Policy and Tenure Statutory instrument (S.I. 387, of 1999) on Land Occupation and Use spells out that no one shall arbitrarily occupy any land and go on to erect any buildings within an urban or municipal or local authority without approval. Failure to abide by this statute results in forceful removal. Epworth has experienced two major blanket evictions in accordance with this statute, that is, in 1985 and 1991. This resulted in demolitions of illegal settlements and the GoZ, through the Ministry of Home Affairs (ZRP), assisted in carrying out this exercise. However, the most affected group was women and children. The statute dictates that there shall only be one main building on a residential stand and one outbuilding for stand sizes above 1000m2. Epworth changed hands, from the Methodist Church to the State (GoZ) and since that day it became state land. All residential land occupiers are on freehold, thus have occupational/usufruct rights only. The peoples obligation is to put up proper structures. Nonetheless, business premises have title deeds that enable the owners to borrow finances using the property as collateral. The Ministry of Local Government is currently working on the modalities of normalizing the tenure system for the Epworth residents particularly those considered legal occupants. This excludes people staying in Gada and Balancing Rocks. The status of the land on which the people of Balancing Rocks built their houses is still contested and the case has been to High Court. However the ELB in a bid to assist occupiers access financial assistance to develop their houses from employers provide confirmation of occupation certificates. 8.2. Building by-laws and Planning Regulations ELB adopted the Model Building By-Laws with amendments. Some of the amendments pertain to: The type of building materials / product standards Procedures Period involved in erecting structures Model plans People are given latitude to build their house with whatever materials they can afford. It is true that in Epworth there is houses built of face bricks and tiles while others are built of sunburnt or farm bricks thatched with asbestos sheets. There are no strict procedures and hence people can start building their houses even without the pegging of the stand to demarcate it from the next.

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The By-laws stipulate that a plan approved expires after a year if no structures have been erected. Plan approval is a cost on its own and its expiration means the individual has to pay again this fee after a year in the event that he/she does not manage to build that within the stipulated time frame. In most cases the figure would have gone up. The ELB extended the time period to two years to allow the community members to come up with a structure. The amendments have permitted the community to come up with their model plans and not necessarily adopt the Boards. The plan therefore should be approved and every stage of the house construction inspected by the building inspectorate. Balancing Rocks and Gada are not covered by the above by-laws. Balancing Rocks is not part of ELB as it is private land for the Church. However the Department of Physical Planning in the Ministry of Local Government is working on the Master Plan for Ward 7 [Gada]. Those who are to be displaced or moved to pave way for an orderly settlement require alternative land of which the Board is not in a position to confirm its availability at the moment. 8.3. Urban agriculture Urban agriculture takes many forms ranging from cultivation of vegetables, sweet potatoes, maize and etc on all open spaces to the keeping of livestock in the backyards. The original people of Epworth survived on agriculture [cropping and livestock rearing] and the ELB has no intention to cut this means of sustenance. This is in line with S.I. 216 of 1994, which permit backyard cultivation of vegetables, the keeping of small livestock, and any small agro-businesses such as the processing of dairy products. The Board gave the green light for the establishment of two market gardening co-operatives that were supported by Plan International. The ELB has again deliberately designated all open vleis for market gardening projects. The statutory instrument is silent on neither the keeping of big animals nor their removal however they are gradually being scaled down. It is becoming increasingly difficult for the families to keep these because of: The decline in pastures, The increase in livestock rustling, 8.4. Environment The Protection of Lands By-laws [S.I. 133 of 1992] talks about environmentally friendly cultivation, plantations and the prohibition of the destruction of vegetation. It stipulates that no cultivation shall be permitted along waterways and on stream banks within a given distance, and no sand extraction or gold panning. At present there is no one who has a permit to extract sand within Epworth. ELB is faced with a daunting task of curbing sand poaching and rampant forest destructions. Enforcing this particular statute requires the collaboration of other arms of government notably, the police and the Natural Resources Board [NRB]. The Board is limited in the sense that it does not have arresting powers and again lack capacity to police the environs. Together with the police the Board carry out once a week round up of poachers.

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A number of concerns have been raised in relation to the management of the environment. The ELBs efforts to contain the problems has been frustrated on a number of fronts: The fines the offenders are asked to pay are too small to be prohibitive The ugly beast called corruption seems to be at play too. Some offenders often go without paying The ELB prepared a Management Plan (2001) and forwarded it to the Ministry of Environment for approval but since then have not received feedback. The Ministry through the NRB gave a Natural Resources Order but has not provided assistance to execute this order since the ELB is cash-strapped. 8.5. Waste management In the four areas studied [Balancing Rocks, Chizungu, Domboramwari and Gada] there is no ELB waste collection services. People in these areas are using refuse pits. There are plans for 2003 to have waste collection points. As mentioned earlier solid waste management is a problem in Gada and Domboramwari. There are two Environmental Health Technicians [EHT] seconded to ELB from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare however, there is no punitive measures to encourage the families to build toilets. 8.6. Entrepreneurial Development It is the aim of the government to promote the small and medium enterprises [SMEs] hence with the little resources the ELB has, it managed to provide shelters in ward 2 only. However it has also approved a site for home industries in Domboramwari (ward 3). In Chizungu (ward 4) the Board has allowed aspiring entrepreneurs to apply to use open spaces in their areas to carry out their businesses. If the proposal is justified it is approved. For bigger business entities the investors are required to make an application to Board in accordance with the Shop Licensing Act. The Board then recommends the application to the Ministry of Local Government for approval. It usually takes up to six months to approve an application after which the business venture can start operations while the Ministry works towards issuing title deeds. 8.7. Taxation The ELB finances its recurrent expenditure for rates it levies the community as well as the sale of water. All residential properties pay a monthly rate of about Z$250.00. However, the community feels that this is too high considering that they build the houses without the Boards assistance. All business entities, whether vendors or backyard industries are issued with a service card and are levied on a monthly basis. The fees differ according to kind of venture but the lowest is Z$170.00 per month. The following box is based on a key informant interview with Ms. Chakazamba, the Secretary of Epworth Local Board. The interview helps to show a nexus of socioeconomic and power dynamics engendered in the peri-urban area. Thus, it is assumed that any intervention measures should give due recognition to the discontinuities that exist in the area.

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Box 3: The Position of ELB Ms Chakazamba gave us salient observations and emerging trends that exist in Epworth. She said that the ITDG project blends much with plans of the local board. However, she notes that the following issues need to be taken into focus: The project must make sure on the social and economic database of research areas. It was noted that Gada has formal and informal settlements. The ELB recognizes that there are people in informal settlements and layouts are being done to formally register them. However, some of the people in informal settlements are not going to be accommodated, thus they would be moved elsewhere. An interesting point highlighted by Ms. Chakazamba was that even people living in the informal settlements are paying rates to the Local Board. She said that the informal settlers forced upon the Local Board to provide them with housing cards which to some extent approve their legitimacy to be staying in the area. This is an area that tallies well with one of the aforementioned objective of ITDG that seeks to promote land tenure for the urban poor. Balancing Rocks should not be included in the project because it does not fall under the jurisdiction of ELB. The Methodist Church of Zimbabwe owns Balancing Rocks. The land tenure and plans made by the Local Board note that Balancing Rocks is not suitable for human settlement due to the danger associated with the rocks. Thus, intended projects that may be done in the area should be of temporary nature since people in Balancing Rocks would be resettled in the future. Originally Epworth had six wards, but with the establishment of New Gada a seventh ward was added. Seven commissioners who are appointed by the Minister run Epworth. However, only two of the commissioners reside in the area. There is only one Councillor in Epworth. The Local Board tried to run ward elections but these were aborted when the elections became violent. The main issue behind the violence was that some people argued that the informal settlers should not be allowed to vote. It was argued that they did not have cards thereby they had no discretion to take part in issues related to Epworth. However, by the time the elections were cancelled the councillor for Ward 4 had already been chosen.

There are Consultative Committees that represents the interests of people at the Local Board in each ward. Each Consultative Committee is made up of 10 members. The Commissioners also liaise with the Consultative Committees for them to be well informed on development trends and intervention areas. Basically, the functions of the Consultative Committees are comparable to Village Development Committees. The Councillor of Ward 4 sits on the Consultative Committee of the ward as an exofficio member. It was also noted that Epworth had the following features: 1. Resident Associations: due to the background of Epworth there have been limited interests in residents to form such associations. However, people in Ward 1 are

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interested because they came here long ago and have a person feeling towards the area. 2. Livestock Production: When the Local Board came in 1983 the area had a lot of cattle. In recent years things are now changing. The sub-division of plots and land shortages has led to minimum people staying with their cattle. People are now associating the area as urban and therefore not suitable for cattle rearing. The Local Board did not force people to disband cattle rearing. It seems the non-confrontational approach that was used helped a lot. 3. Land tenure and shelter: the Local Board uses standard by-laws on building. The Methodist Church donated the land to the government. Thus, Epworth is regarded as State land, which is under the jurisdiction of a Local Board. The stand sizes tend to vary since the area was once a communal area for the Chishawasha people. Ward 1 and 4 have very big stands. However, sizes are getting reduced due to land subdivisions. People need to apply to the Local Board if they want to sub-divide their plots. The Local Board allows people to sub-divide their plots but charges a fee for that. Future plans are to have individual title deeds for the residents. However, title deeds are given on business premises. 4. Refuse Collection: The Local Board started collecting refuse from areas with good roads, for example in Wards 1 and 6. A tractor with a trailer is used during the collection. However, a pilot exercise was done so as to include refuse collection in areas without good roads. The community is required to dump refuse at a 200 metres radius site and the refuse is collected three times a week. 5. Water and Sewerage: Ward 1 and parts of Ward 6 are fully serviced with water reticulation and sewers. Although the other wards have sewer lines they are not functional the Local Board is waiting to use the Mabvuku-Tafara pipeline. It is a partner in the pipeline project, but the major agent is the Harare City Council. 6. Public Sector Investment Programme: capital projects are sponsored by the PSIP. Under the PSIP the Local Board is looking at making major roads accessible. The recurrent expenditure is used to fund administrative activities and revenue is raised through taxation and levies charged on residents and businesses. 7. Other by-laws governing ELB are on: Land Protection, Local Plans, Land and Building, Sand Extraction, and Modern Building.

It was noted that some of these by-laws were difficult to enforce because some of the area fall under the Goromonzi Rural District Council, which is governed by the Land Acquisition Act and the Urban Councils Act. Thus, although residents of Epworth may do activities like sand extraction, the extraction area might be under the jurisdiction of

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Goromonzi. In addition, the Zimbabwe Republic Police have the final decision of prosecuting and taking the culprits into court. However, the continued activities indicate that there are loopholes in the existing set-up. Sand extraction has resulted in big land openings that pose a danger to human and animals. 8.8. Livelihood Strategies 8.8.1. Labour market In times of economic crises such as the economy is going through, livelihood strategies inevitably broaden. It is estimated that about 90% of men in Epworth are working as general labourers in the neighbouring industries, and in the informal sector. Very few women are actively involved in the formal sector though a substantial number is now participating in the informal sector notably crocheting, tie and dye, candle making initiatives and market gardening. However, womens responsiveness to market opportunities is constrained by their reproductive roles and responsibilities, the resultant lack of mobility, discrimination in employment recruitment and practices [particularly for manual labour] and lack of access to credit. The rate of absorption of the youths into the mainstream economy continues to lag behind the rate at which the education system is churning out graduates each year. In Epworth like any other residential area in the country there are many idle youths. Of late, some of the youths have joined the informal sector and are actively participating in carpentry, shoe manufacturing, welding, poultry, brick moulding ventures (see photograph below), theatre arts, brick moulding, bicycle repair, barbershops and many more. 8.8.2. Formal Sector Historically men have dominated wage/salaried employment in both rural and urban Zimbabwe. It was noted that 37.1% of people in the study rely on the formal sector for income. For peri-urban Epworth the sectors that are particularly important for men are the industrial sector (engineering, chemical, agro-processing) while women dominate the services sector. In the private sector the participation of women is still very minimal for it has tended to favour men. The current trend in Zimbabwe is that the private industrial sector is the better paying sector as compared to the public and services sector. This structural discrimination tends to concentrate women in low paying jobs. Some of these jobs are more seasonal than perennial and are more prone to the vagaries of political and economic instability. Though the economy is not performing well, men are receiving a modest wage. 8.8.3 Informal Sector Once a way to top up the formal wages coming into the household, it now has become an important livelihood strategy when many people are faced with growing unemployment and high inflation levels. Research results show that about 62.9% of the employed labour force is in the informal sector. The majority of the small and medium enterprises are owned by men and involve skills traditionally identified with men such as carpentry, building, bicycle repair, welding and tin-smithing, motor mechanics, and shoe making

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and repair. Some male youths are also into sand extraction that has proved popular these days with a lot of construction work going on in the nearby Zimre Park (Ruwa). Women tend to be occupied in those activities that do not require many skills such as vending, tie and dye, batiks, hairdressing, and market gardening. Both men and women are involved in brick moulding projects. It is common to see both sexes working together in moulding bricks since their expertise and labour is complementary. There were a big number of people in Epworth involved in this venture for a number of reasons: Minimal capital required to start the project A ready market for the products Availability of raw materials and in this case obtained at no cost Womens success in the informal sector is curtailed by the amount of time available once other reproductive or productive tasks/activities are completed thus limiting their mobility. Other factors such as limited access to inputs, increasing competition and little control over their labour constrain womens participation to successfully pursue opportunities. Figure 15: Informal sector participation

Youths busy manufacturing new shoes at a Domboramwari Shopping Centre. They form part of the people involved in the informal sector in Epworth.

Although there is no complimentary institutional support for the growth of the informal sector, it is growing at an alarming rate and absorbing the excess community labour. It should be born in mind that this sector though thriving is fraught with problems. The major constraints are:

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Unavailability of credit facilities Technological impediments Lack of business training Security of tenure Unfavourable institutional processes [by-laws].

The graph below shows the majority (45%) of those interviewed who are in the informal sector got funding from savings clubs. About 29% of the respondents said they were financing their business ventures with their salaries. Financial institutions and NGOs have not been very active in assisting the informal sector participants in Epworth. 20% of the respondents said that they received assistance from financial institutions and less than 2% from NGOs. Figure 16 Financial Issues

Sources of Finance
50 40 30 20 10 0
- fin icro s s ce lu b an nce sc itta in g rem sav sal ary O NG s

0%
m

Source

The following box highlights a few among many livelihood activities being undertaken by people in Epworth. The cases bring out problems and prospects being encountered by those who are participating in the informal sector. Box 4: Livelihood Activities Case 1: Amon Mazarura (48) Amon is a carpenter by trade. He is married and has 4 children. He also lives with his mother and a nephew. He worked as an assistant carpenter at a certain company in Harare from 1979 to 1997. When the company he worked for closed in 1987 he decided to go into self-employment. He set up a carpentry workshop at his home in Epworth. According to Amon, he used to make furniture without orders and the items would be bought within a few days or weeks. Between 1997 and 2000 he used to have three assistants. Nowadays it is difficult to secure orders since people no longer have enough money to spend on furniture. Amon now makes anything after someone puts an order and pays a deposit up front. As soon as this is done that is when material for the items is bought and part of it channeled to household needs. The owner of the item is required to pay the difference when it is complete. Amon complained that one major problem he is facing at the moment is the ever-increasing cost of material. At times he tells someone

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the price of a certain item and the person pays the deposit but by the time he (Amon) goes to buy the material it will be more expensive. It then becomes difficult for him to go back to his customer and raise the price of the item. This forces him to make certain items at a loss. Amon estimated his gross monthly income to be between Z$30 000.00 to Z$40 000.00. He does not have any accounting system. As soon as he gets money he uses it to buy food and other things for his family. His busiest months are November and December when many people get bonuses. Amon said that he works from home because their area, Domboramwari does not have a designated home industrial site where people would engage in their projects. He said he has equipment that includes 4 saws, 1 plane, 4 hammers, 4 tap measures, 3 squares, chisels, drills, 1 coping saw, 1 spooke shave, 3 Gcramps, 2 search cramps and a work bench. He bought most of these things when he was still working. His desire is to get equipment such as an electric plane and electric saw. These things are expensive and he does not have money to buy them Case 2: Fanuel Murapa (21) Fanuel went to school up to O-level. He wrote O-level examinations in 2000 and managed to pass 5 subjects, which include Agriculture (B), Commerce (B), Science (C), Biology (C), and Shona (C). His hope was to go up to A-level but this did not happen because of his passes and because his parents did not have money for his A-level school fees. The boy lives with his mother. Fanuel approached his sister who is a cross-border trader to buy him two electric hair cutters for him in South Africa. The sister bought the cutters for him. He then partnered with his friend and opened a barbershop. They approached someone who has a homestead close to Domboramwari shops to allow them to operate from his yard. They were given the go ahead. They build a structure to operate from. They are currently paying Z$750.00 as rent. They also pay Z$700.00 for electricity. Fanuel and his partner do not have a proper accounting system. They share the money they would have made at the end of each day. One of them is responsible for paying rent while the other pays for electricity. They charge between Z$30.00 and Z$40.00 for haircuts. The two boys can generate up to Z$500.00 a day on a good day. Their desire is to expand and have a hair saloon to carter for women, but they do not have money to buy the equipment that includes dryers. At the moment they want to buy sterilizers but they do not have the money. Case 3: Jack Phiri (20) Jack went to school up to grade 6. Financial problems forced him to drop out of school. He lives with his mother and brother. Jack and his brother have a poultry project at their home. They have 53 layer chickens. They embarked on the project in May 2002. Jack said they chose this project because the chickens lay eggs for 12 months and after that they could be sold. They spent Z$23 000.00 to buy the chicks and Z$10 000.00 for the chicken feed. At the moment the chickens have started laying eggs. They are still laying about 30 per day. They are currently selling a crate (30 eggs) for Z$500.00 and one for Z$18.00. He said the area has a big market since most tuckshop owners and individual need eggs everyday. They have so far opened a bank account. The major problem they

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are facing is the cost of chicken feed, which is very high. Most of the money they have realized from selling eggs has been used to buy chicken feed.

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9. GENDER ANALYSIS
The following section is an analysis of the gender dimension to access and control of resources and benefits as this impacts on the livelihood of notably women and children. Although it does not tie well with the SLF, it highlights silent features of a peoples way of life that could not have otherwise been brought to the fore by the adoption of the SLF. 9.1. Access to and Control over Resources The study also looked at differential access to and control over various resources and benefits between women and men. Access denotes whether one has the right to use the resource to further ones life. Besides the usufruct right, access also entails availability, affordability, and acceptability/suitability of the resource. In the context of this study control was taken to mean the power to manage, let out, dispose or transfer. The key resources for livelihood are land, equipment, labour, cash, education/training and livestock. 9.2. Land In urban Zimbabwe access to land is mainly by purchase, though some people inherit from family or relatives. The above is not necessarily true for Epworth as there are different forms of land acquisition and tenure systems. At Independence the Church handed over Epworth land, except for Balancing Rocks, to the State, thus effectively making it state land. It has emerged from the appraisal that both men and women in Epworth have access to land. The originals got the land as a birth right while those in Domboramwari, Gada and Balancing Rocks bought it from the original settlers in one way or the other. The land on which these three developments are built was originally farming land. The majority of the female originals inherited gardens from their parents while residential stands and fields were usually passed on to sons. To this day, those whose gardens and fields were not taken up as residential stands continue to produce their own food. While state land is not to be sold by individuals there were some unscrupulous persons who managed to get away with it. It is reported that originals took advantage of the precarious situation with regard to housing provision in Harare and started selling their farming land in contravention of the standing by-laws. This goes to say as long as there was vacant land any woman/man who had cash could purchase. Women, like men, could purchase a portion of land from the originals without any hassles. Single women, widows and men alike who had become redundant in Harare and the nearby farms could easily acquire land to build homes within Epworth. The present practice is that women have partial control over rights. What emerged is that, in the event that she is a single woman, a widow and/or has no sons, has the leverage to do what she wants with the property. Those women in a marriage setting, it is understood have no control over land. Men can acquire land, lease, demarcate or dispose of it without consulting their spouses. Young men are endowed with this resource unlike their female counterparts who are believed to be marriageable and hence prone to leaving their maiden homes. It emerged from the study that only a small proportion of Epworth

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residents believe women have control over land, since husbands should consult their wives on what to do with the land. 9.3. Equipment Axes, brick moulds, hoes, mattocks, picks, wheelbarrows, shovels, mechanical tools and gadgets, masonry tools, and or bicycles to mention but a few are perfect examples of equipment one would require in a peri-urban setting. Both women and men have access to household equipment. Women, like men, are free to acquire and bring these tools home without any problem. Men in a marital set up have the overall control of equipment. Widows and single women also have control of their household equipment and tools. Women in a marital setting are not free to even lend tools to neighbours without the consent of their husbands. However they have the power to manage these tools. It is viewed as not in the best interest of a marriage for a woman to lend or sell household equipment even if she is the one who brought it in the first instance. Men on the other hand are at liberty to lend, dispose, or pledge any of the equipment. Stories of men pledging equipment to cover their debits or simply selling to finance their illicit activities abound. 9.4. Labour and Household Income The study looked at labour as human physical effort and/or formal/informal employment. Labour denotes both productive and reproductive work as well as paid and unpaid work. Both men and women are reported to access this form of capital particularly when in good health. However in the case of women seeking paid work (employment) outside the home they require the approval of their spouses. It emerged from this study, that in no uncertain terms should a woman simply walk into the home with lump sums of money whose origins cannot be explained. Community work such as helping out at a neighbours home, for example, who is not well, or taking part in moulding bricks for a school, does not require the approval of a spouse. Men nonetheless, are free to seek employment without consulting their spouses. The notion that fathers or male figures in the home are the providers is still very rife and many view men as the ultimate decision makers. Women like men are able to hold a savings account with a bank as long as there is transparency on how they are earning the money. The difficulty is on the control of the labour and its fruits. When women bring home the proceeds of their labour, men have a say on how it is spent. On the contrary, men can spend the proceeds of their labour before they get home. If at all these proceeds get home, men have the ultimate say on when and how the money is apportioned. 9.5. Livestock Livestock is central to the survival of the African people. The commonest are cattle, goats, and fowls. Men extract milk, meat, hides and drought power from them. None of the Epworth families in the study area is keeping cattle and goats. A few families are

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keeping fowls. Women and men have equal access to fowls. No man has control over fowls as these are viewed as womens domain. 9.6. Education/training Education/training is critical for a livelihood as it enables one to access certain key and strategic resources and benefits. While it is government policy to enable both males and females to access education the reality is quite opposite. Due to the prevailing economic and social hardships the community has experienced more girls than boys dropping out of school. School fees continue to go up in line with inflation and this has seen more children being sent back home. HIV/AIDS is another contributory factor to the large dropout rates for girls. More girls are taking the caring roles at an early age in looking after siblings after the death of parents due to HIV/AIDS. In the area of vocational training, there are no such facilities in Epworth. There are no organisations either involved in training groups to embark on self-help initiatives. However there are few opportunities for both women and men to get on the job training. The commonest form of training is the artisan-to-artisan training and this involves an artisan training young would-be artisans. There are many young people involved in carpentry and masonry who underwent this type of training within the community. Women too are receiving such training from fellow women in crocheting, tie and dye and candle making. There are a number of initiatives health-wise where peer educators are promoting behaviour and attitude change with regard to HIV/AIDS. The UZ in conjunction with Zvitambo Clinic are also in the area, promoting safe and healthy life styles. As pointed out earlier, there are two EHTs seconded to the ELB who are training the community on environmental health. On the economic front, there arent any training programs in Epworth to foster entrepreneurial development to cover such areas as bookkeeping and business management for those in the informal sector. In this case both women and men have no control over the education/training they receive or is at their disposal. It is a question of take it or leave it. Thus the unavailability of training opportunities in Epworth has left many youths redundant and idle within the community. 9.7. Lodgings Very few households in Chizungu, Balancing Rocks and Gada earn a living from leasing part of their houses to lodgers. Many of the housing units found in Balancing Rocks and Gada are in most cases two/three roomed structures, making it difficult to let any room to lodgers. These two residential areas are again temporary and hence the families could not build big and permanent structures before their tenure status is guaranteed. There are no out buildings in these two settlements to accommodate lodgers. There are few homesteads with out buildings in Chizungu. However in most cases, these structures are accommodating sons and daughters of the family instead of lodgers.

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Contrary to what is found in the other three settlements most families in Domboramwari earn a substantial amount of income from lodgers. It is common to find several two/three roomed out buildings surrounding the main house. Each out building could be accommodating a family or two. In this scenario both women and men have equal access to earnings from lodgings. Men, nonetheless have an overriding control over the earnings whereas women have to consult their spouses on how to spend the money. In cases of a life-threatening incident in the home women are free to use the earnings without consulting their spouses. 9.8. Outside Assistance Except for families in Chizungu and Domboramwari all other families in Balancing Rocks and Gada reported that they were discriminated from the Plan International funded initiative. Plan financed water and sanitation programme, and the education of underprivileged children. This included the paying of school fees, provision of school uniforms, and the supply of food rations since around 1994 up to this day. The families in the informal settlements were reported as having been included on the original beneficiary list but did not receive the said benefits. It is reported that the leadership in the distribution process either converted the goods and services for their own benefit or simply cancelled them off. The leadership it is said to be made up of the originals only who are said to have a general hatred towards the new settlers. Girls and boys had equal chances of benefiting from the Plan International assistance program. This assistance has proved quite handy for many families particularly now when the cost of living is continuing to skyrocket. None of the families in the four areas admitted to receiving any assistance from relatives outside their community. It emerged that there are community associations that help out in times of need particularly when it comes to the burden of ill health and funerals. One such grouping is the Chigwirizano. This is a womens grouping and from the reports it is one such form of union that cuts across all social, economic and political divides. The issue of political power and prestige is a sensitive one to probe. None of the focus groups mentioned political affiliation as a form of benefit. However from observations it came out that men have more access to and control of political power/prestige than women. 9.9. Daily activity profiles Generally women in all the study areas of Epworth have a longer day than men. Most women work up between 4am and 5am to do things like fetching water from wells and water points, sweep around the yards, help children to prepare to go to school and husbands to go to work. Women who are involved in vending woke up around 4am as well so that they could go to places such as Mbare market to order their vegetables. Others go to work in their gardens. A number of activities are carried out during the day, that is, between 8am and 5pm. These activities include vending, sewing and knitting. Those who go to church during week days do so between these hours including those who are involved in women's clubs.

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The evenings are reserved for preparing super and relaxing with children. Those who are interested in knitting and sewing also undertake these activities during the evenings as well. Most women said they go to bed between 9pm and 10pm. Men, unlike women wake up around 6am especially those who are not formally employed. Activities such as gardening, welding, carpentry, bicycle mending, digging graves and wells and transporting people's property using pushcarts are carried out throughout the day. In the evenings around 5pm, those who drink alcohol go to beer halls. Most of the men said that they go home around 8pm to have super and to sleep. 9.10. Seasonality Profiles Men and women in Epworth have specific activities that they carry out throughout the year. The following are the activities that are undertaken. In most cases, women are involved in urban agriculture. As a result of this, between August and April women work with men to prepare their fields. Both men and women carry out ploughing, planting and weeding. Crops, which are planted, include maize, groundnuts, round nuts, peas and beans. Both men and women also help each other to mould bricks and to repair houses that would have developed cracks or to reconstruct those that would have collapsed. Men go to fish during this time while women fetch mushrooms. Between May and July women are mostly involved in sewing, gardening, vending, and brick moulding while men are engaged in digging wells

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10. RECOMENDATIONS
10.I OPPORTUNITIES AND NEEDS 10.1.1 Housing The provision of housing in Epworth can be improved through training residents and builders in the production of affordable building materials. These materials include stabilized soil blocks (SSBs) and tiles. Such an exercise would reduce housing construction costs. The process would also help to teach the people in Epworth to be selfreliant in providing decent shelter. This also results in participatory democracy as the beneficiaries take an active role in the process of building their own homes (Friedmann, 1992). Once the communities master the art of making stabilized soil blocks, they can in the end make some for sale and this will generate income for them. There is a need to work in partnership with the ELB in analyzing and revising standards of housing, planning and infrastructure to make them more simple and affordable. However, the board must ensure that houses in the area are built in a planned manner. By-laws that stipulate how houses should be built must be enforced. The owners of residential stands must be given title deeds so that they could be eligible for housing loans. This can enable them to build better houses. It is also important for NGOs such as ITDG to work together with the ELB and the residents on how land registration and rules for residential and productive use can be revised in accordance with the needs of the residents, the majority of who constitute the poor. NGOs operating in Epworth can work together to establish a housing credit facility. This facility should enable the residents to borrow money at minimum interest rates. The NGOs could also facilitate the granting of secure land tenure for residential and productive purposes by the people of Epworth. Such an exercise will make it easier for the residents to borrow money from financial institutions as they can use the land as collateral. 10.1.2. Water and Sanitation Tapped water should be provided to each homestead at affordable rates. This will enable each homestead to have access to the amount of water that it requires at any particular time. Those residents without tapped water at their homesteads would like to pay for what they actually consume. The residents would like assistance in the form of pipes, tapes and meters so as to get water to their homestead. The provision of tapped water will also reduce the amount of time that women spend going to fetch water from water points or unprotected wells. The outbreak of diseases in areas that rely on water from unprotected wells will also be reduced significantly. There is a great need for better toilet facilities for the people of Epworth. The government and NGOs can work together to help the people of Epworth construct Blair toilets or to install a sewerage system in the area for human waste and floodwater. The ELB should establish a reliable rubbish collection facility system.

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10.1.3. Energy The provision of electricity or solar energy to the people of Epworth will make it possible for the people to have access to reliable sources of energy. 10.1.4. Roads and transport More focus for the development of Epworth should be put on the construction of better roads, which would be accessed, by all types of vehicles to move. Better roads would enable public transport to get to most of the areas in the wards and allow refuse collection to take place. 10.1.5. Environmental conservation Measures should be put in place to curb the massive extraction of sand in Epworth. The ELB can work together with the police and consultative assemblies in this area. Stiffer penalties should be imposed on those who are caught extracting sand illegally from Epworth. The consultative assemblies can play a key role in encouraging other residents to plant trees in their neighborhoods. 10.1.6. Urban agriculture Suitable land should be set aside for urban agriculture. The existing market gardens in Chizungu and Domboramwari need to be strengthened and coordinated so that they remain viable. Market gardens have a significant role as sources of money and household food security. 10.1.7. Informal sector development (projects) The present state of the economy that is dominated by high levels of unemployment calls for a need to expand and support emerging income generating activities. Thus, the establishment of home industrial sites in areas like Gada, Domboramwari and Balancing Rocks would act as a catalyst for more people to be engaged by the informal sector. However, the following issues need to be taken into consideration for the informal sector to operate sustainable: -Those involved in the informal sector should undergo business training aimed at improving general and financial management, planning, efficiency and marketing. It was noted under social capital that most cooperatives were not viable due to lack of the aforementioned skills. However, there is a potential for success if proper training, guidance and entrepreneurship is instilled among project members. -The establishment of a credit facility for those in the informal sector should be prioritized. There were indications that some projects have a broad chance of expanding and be competitive in the market. However, such projects like the shoe-making business in Domboramwari (Figure 15) are incapacitated due to shortage of cash to expand production.

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-More youths who are currently unemployed should be trained in areas such as carpentry, metal work, shoe-making, dressmaking, candle making etc so that they can also participate in the informal sector. Although there is a need to carry out a sub-sector analysis for projects that need to be sponsored the following areas have a large chance of succeeding: -Carpentry: there was a lot of furniture making prevalent in areas like Domboramwari and Chizungu. -Urban agriculture: especially in Chizungu and Domboramwari. -Brick making: there are already people engaged in brick making, but they do not have equipment and resources to increase production. A ready market exists in Epworth and surrounding suburbs like Ruwa were a lot of people are constructing houses. -Cooperatives and Burial Societies: they need to be strengthened and integrated into the wider market. Some burial societies have invested their money on the money market thereby showing a forward-looking vision for success. 10.1.8. Institutional building It is important to strengthen the capacity of grassroots organizations and partnerships between the ELB, CBOs and NGOs. The idea would be to establish mechanisms for collaboration between these partners. Capacity building workshops should be carried out so that CBOs and the ELB can be trained on project planning and implementation. The capacity building programmes should also involve the training of members of partner organizations in: Participatory planning Sun-sector analysis and Accounting NGOs such as the ITDG can facilitate the registration and empowerment of CBOs in Epworth.

10.2 RANKING OF PR1ORITIES The priorities are ranked according to what was emphasized by participants in the PUA sessions. The following table 7 shows the ranking position and wards that are most suitable to intervene. This was done so as to capture the differential potential for intervention in the differential, but related wards of Epworth.

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Table 7 Priority Ranking Rank 1. Water and Sanitation 2. Housing: (i) formalisation of settlements (ii) Material Support 3. Projects: (i) credit (ii) urban agriculture (iii) cooperative development (iv) carpentry 4. Roads 5. Institutional Building Issues and Areas there is a need for improvement of services in all the wards. in Gada and Balancing Rocks. access to cheap raw materials like cement, asbestos and bricks. All the wards Especially in Chizungu, Gada and Domboramwari. training, funding and credit. All the wards. Especially in Chizungu and Domboramwari where there are many carpenters. all the areas have poor road networks that need to be improved. training for CBOs, Consultative Committees and the ELB. Information dissemination to people and their participation in development programmes. reduction of sand poaching, filling up gullies formed through sand extraction, tree planting. All the wards. accessibility to cheap and alternative energy sources.

6. Environmental Conservation

7. Energy

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11. REFERENCES
BRATTON M (1990) NGOs in Africa: Can they influence Public Policy? Development and Change Vol. 21. CHAMBERS R (1994) PRA: Analysis of Experience, Institute of Development Studies, Brighton. CHENGA M (1986) Rural Housing Programmes in Zimbabwe: A Contribution to Social Development, in Journal of Social Development in Africa, Vol. 1 No 1. CSO (1992) Population Census, GoZ, Harare. DFID (1999) Sustainable Livelihoods Guidance Sheets, DFID, U.K. FRIEDMANN J (1992) Empowerment: The Politics of Alternative Development, Oxford: Blackwell. GOOTAERT C (1998) Social Capital, Household Welfare and Poverty in Indonesia, Word Bank Working Paper, World Bank, Washington D.C. GOVERNMENT OF ZIMBABWE (1996) National Report and Plan of Action for Human Settlements in Zimbabwe, Ministry of Public Construction and National Housing, Harare, Zimbabwe. LEACH G AND MEARNS R (1988) Beyond the Fuel Wood Crisis: People, Land and Trees in Africa, London, Earthscan Publications. MADAKA A (1995) Housing, in Social Policy and Administration in Zimbabwe, School of Social Work, Harare, Zimbabwe MADE P.A. (1995) Women and Desertification: Tillers of Land, Keepers of Knowledge, in The Gendered Politics of Land, SAFERE, SAPES Trust, Harare, Zimbabwe. MAFICO J.C. (1991) Urban low income housing in Zimbabwe, Avebury, Brookfield. MAKUMBE J.M (1996) Participatory Development, UZ Publications MITTI G and Mullins D (1999) Livelihoods Analysis: An Analytical Framework for Understanding Livelihoods and Vulnerability, in (ed) A. Holloway Risk, Sustainable Development and Disasters: Southern Perspectives Periperi Publications, South Africa. POWELL F (1988) Training for Participatory in Approaches that Work, in Rural Development, K.G. Saur, New York, London. RUKUNI, M (1989) Irrigation Research Priorities for Southern Africa in G.D Mudimu and R.H Bernstein (ed), Household and National Food Security in Southern Africa, Library of Congress. TURNER J.F.C. (1969) Uncontrolled Urban Settlements: Problems and Policies, in (ed) G. Breeze The City in Newly Developing Countries: Reading on Urbanism and Urbanisation Prentice Hall, N.J. ITDG (2001) Baseline Survey of Epworth, January 2001, Unpublished JOLLY R (1997) Action Programme to Reduce Poverty, in Development and Change, No. 5 1997,5 WORLD BANK (1998) The Local Level Institutions Study, Local level Institutions Working Paper No. 2, Social Development Department, World Bank: Washington D.C. WORLD BANK (1990) Urban Household Energy Strategy, ESMAP, Washington D.C.

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Appendix I Draft Data Collection Guide a) Vulnerability context [Timelines, trend, change analysis, seasonal charts, ranking, livelihood mapping, Venn diagramming] What are the main sources of income? How important is each of the sources of income? Which sources of income are mainly dominated by, men, women and both? Who controls income within a household? Is the revenue from a given source used for a particular purpose? How do income from different activities vary through the year? How predictable is seasonal fluctuation? Are the income circles for all activities correlated? At what time of the year is cash income most important (e.g. school fees might be collected one or more times during the year)? Does this coincide with the time at which cash is most available? Do people have access to appropriate financial service institutions to enable them to save for the future? Does access to these vary by social group? How do income-earning opportunity vary throughout the year? How does remittance income vary throughout the year? What major events in the past have impacted in your way of life significantly? In what ways have this impacted you either positively or negatively? How you dealt with it to overcome its effects? How recurrent are these events? b) Human capital [Mapping, FGD, KI] From where (what sources, networks) do people access information that they feel is valuable to their livelihoods? Is there a tradition of local innovation? Are technologies in use from internal or external sources? Do people feel that they are lacking in certain types of information? How aware are people of their rights and of the policies, legislation, by-laws, and regulations that impact upon their livelihoods? c) Social capital [FGD, Semi-structured Interviews, Venn diagramming, gender analysis] What sort of social groupings exist within the community? What are their main roles/functions? What sort of socio-economic benefits do men and women derive from these groups? How effective are these groups in meeting members needs in times of need/crisis? How often do people get support from other sources other than those within the communities? Which are some of these sources?

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How are these institutions linked? d) Natural capital [Mapping, gender analysis, FGD, KI] Which groups have access to which type of natural resources? What is the nature of access rights (e.g. private ownership, rental, common ownership, highly contested access, etc)? How secure are they? Can they be defended against encroachment? How have the access rights changed over time? Is there evidence of significant conflict over resources? How is access to natural resources affected by external factors (the economic and political dispensation)? e) Physical capital [Transect, mapping, FGD]

Water and sanitation-who provides, and how safe? Shelter-appropriateness, adequacy? Roads-availability, accessibility, state of the facility? Transport-availability, affordability? d) Financial capital [FGD, Ranking]

Which types of financial organizations exist, both formal and informal? What services do they provide (interest rates, collateral requirements, etc)? Who which groups or types of people has access? What prevents others from gaining access? What are the current levels of savings and loans? What proportion of your income goes to savings? Are there any households, which receive remittances from family members? Who controls remittances income when it arrives? How is it used? Is it reinvested? f) Structures [KI, Institutional ranking, Venn diagramming]

Epworth local board admin structures, services, and funding CBOs structures, activities, funding? Political party structures, and activities? g) Processes [KI interview (ELB), FGD, Semi-structured interviews]

Legislation, policies, by-laws governing all activities from acquisition of land, where to build, location of income generating activities, standards to adhere to etc. Markets and the rules of the game within the structures. Beliefs, norms and values

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h) Strategies

[Timelines, seasonal calendars, preference ranking]

What are some of the strategies you employ in times of crisis? Do these strategies change with seasons? h) Livelihood outcomes [FGD] Community aspirations.

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Appendix II: PUA tools and SLF information needs

Tool Resource Mapping SLF Information Needs identifying key resources and assets (physical, natural), type of shelter and inputs at use, the use of assets for production purposes and income generation, the differential use of resources by the local people. to be used for trust building, direct observation and establishing dialogue with the community. Verification of particular features and assets, land use, crops, soils, sacred areas etc. seasonal distribution of activities and livelihood strategies; e.g. access to food, employment trends, income and expenditure. The use of Seasonality and Daily activity calendars provides the distribution of labour between men and women. identifying existing institutions in the community and related relationship with the community; Institutions that are identified would be listed, discussed and ranked according to their importance to the community. What is the level of peoples participation and empowerment through social capital? to identify differential levels of social and economic characteristics within Epworth. What are peoples perceptions on the poor, middle and rich? What are the major trends in resource opportunities and constraints associated with the poor, middle and rich households? brainstorming on major survival strategies e.g. sources of income and scoring them using matrix or ranking. Effect of the economy on peoples livelihoods. Analysing shocks drought, hardships associated with economic reforms or conflicts that have existed in the area. What have been the coping strategies?

Transect Walks

Time Matrix

Institutional Analysis/Ranking

Wealth Ranking

Livelihood Patterns and Trends

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Problem Tree

problems and opportunities that exist in the community, related to access and control of resources/shelter. These can be identified and ranked. What are the community needs and options for improving their living conditions? livelihood strategies, available assets, access to services analysing and identifying key events in the past e.g. land use patterns, socio-economic changes, energy resources, urban agricultural practices.

Preference Ranking

Historical Analysis

Focus Groups (1) Gender Analysis (2) Women/youths

to determine access to and control of resources between men and women, what are their perceptions in relation to services, income-generating projects

Methods and key information collected Level Methods

Resource mapping/focus groups around resource map Community level environmental analysis Historical time line Seasonality calendars Venn diagramming Matrix ranking Identification of livelihood indicators Identification of livelihood categories Household level social analysis Livelihood category profiles Social mapping Case study and household interview Problem identification analysis Synthesis Cause/effect analysis Opportunity analysis Source: Mitti G and Mullins D (1999) Livelihood Analysis: An Analytic Framework for understanding Livelihoods and Vulnerability, in (ed) A Holloway, Risk, Sustainable Development and Disasters: Southern Perspectives Periperi Publications, South Africa.

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Appendix III: List of Participants

Ward 1: Balancing Rocks Women: M. Chikonzo C. Mavhengere F. Mavhengere E. Mabika W. Tunha A. Mutengura J. Garutsa S. Makiriyado A. Munofa J. Siziba Men: B. Chivata F. Moyo M. Kuzhumbwa N. Chihona Ward 3: Domboramwari Elders: Women: J. Churu A. Tapfumaneyi E. Chirikure L. Sipanera E. Kaemba Men: L. English K. B. Ngoma W. Matanhike C. Kaitano G. Chihuri M. Munyaradzi H. Mangodza

Youths: Females: Florence Mhlanga Loveness Verah Future Mhlanga Carolene Mwedzi

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Priscilla Mugede Melanda Mugede Idah Mtegede Molly Tailo Patricia Gomo Abigail Verah Males: Ben Alifisher Lovemore Chatwoka Simbarashe White Onias Chirinda William Imedi Eddison Magaso Oliver Mazarura Dickson Chare Jack Phiri Luke Kancheta Samson Chakura Tichaoona Mayahle Fanwell Murapa Prince Mabharani Itai Kambanje Ward 4: Chizungu Elders: Women: C. Chirimba E. Manene L. Mvura H. Kapuka Men: E. Musokere Z. Komorai H.Manene I. Makumire-Sithole C. Masungise A. Mutambara Youths: Females: T. Mutukumira M. Muchakagara P. Chinamano

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Males: S. Makumire E. Munondo N. Kanjere J. Nkuku K. Tafira V. Kanyemba T. Tsogola K. Chirimba

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